Present
- Cody Dieback. Human Male Wizard from Highport – Andrew
- Jack "Blocker" Jones. Human Male Temple Fighter of Aquamarina from Porn City – Jamie
- Tom Eade. Human Male Fighter from Porn City – Jeff
Esmeralda "Ezme" Abernathy. Human Female Temple Fighter of Soixante Neuf from Scabport – Shane
Lois Price - Ardern. Human Female Priestess of Mr Quail from Porn City – Kevin
- MARMALADING Rock Hammer. Human Male Barbarian from Central Plains – Steven
- Willow. Half-elf Male Caribou Gorn Priest from Porn City - Chris
- Lois Price. Human Female Wizard of Porn City – Ian
- MARMALADING Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl
by Ian
As Lois finishes her breakfast in the morning, there is a note to go see Sally Price, (Lois's Mum) and she dutifully heads off.
Sally asks if Lois is _SURE_ that the party has no more Slisher tech?? Lois admits to the comms devices and the party will use the two they have.
"Ok, but please return them when you are back".
"Sure," Lois replies. "Happy to get those back to you."
Lois does not mention the several other items the party have.
The party gather up and Lois tells the crew about the morning meeting with her Mum. The weather is overcast and colder, typical for this time of year. They manage to secure passage on the Bawdy Phaggot tramp cutter to Brokenmouth. The trip is uneventful.
They obtain a barge and horses and head up river. Again, the trip is easy. The weather turns miserable with cold, wet downpours. They reach the first village of Sloth and stay in the familiar Broad Bean tavern. Asking around there is no news of the gnoll activity klibwards.
After drying out and resting, the party head off to another grey day. Another uneventful trip to the next stop, town of Cynic. They lodge in the Gnome Cravat and there is more talk of the Gnoll activity further up river. News that Le Brun has been fully sacked and overrun. No survivors.
Off to Vesper. Half a day in and the group on the barge notices a body floating face down in the water. They draw the barge near and its a small boy, very recently killed by gnoll arrows. The more observant notice a plume of smoke about two leagues away, slightly inland. This area is all farming so they suspect a farm.
Jack sternly insists that the party investigates whatever evil act has occurred. He sends the boy down river with an official Aquamarina funeral.
The barge is anchored and the ever sneaky Munch and Cody head off toward the smoke. About 15 mins out from the smoke, looking toward what looks like a farmhouse and grounds, Cody makes Munch invisible. Munch heads off to the house.
Munch observes the farm house is well alight and ransacked. A woman's body and three men (assumed to be workers) are strewn all over the place, littered with Gnoll arrows. A horse is dead and half eaten by the stables. Munch spots what seems to be 7 or 8 gnoll tracks heading klibwards.
Munch realizes there really is nothing to do so heads back to Cody. He taps Cody gently on the shoulder and they both return to the barge for a de-brief.
Journey continues to Vesper...
Vesper seems to be more alert and there is an obvious elevation in guards, defensive wall upgrading. There is a lot more town chat on the gnoll activity.
Last stop before Le Brun is Amist and the trip there is uneventful. Again there is a LOT more guard and defensive activity. The party check in to the Bicep and Torso. A lot of chat on gnolls and raids.
Le Brun
The party set off for Le Brun. They negotiate the Dead Falls effortlessly [party luck roll '1'] and one and a half hours out from the village, start looking for a safe barge landing spot.
While a terrific spot was identified, Jack makes a meal of the approach and hits the bank and submerged log, thus tipping the barge over and spilling everyone into the side creek they are navigating. Unfortunately the impact causes damage that Willow (the master builder) determines at a couple of days of repair at best.
"Perhaps there are abandoned barges in the village?" Lois optimistically suggests.
"Yeah, lets check and hope that there is a decent barge lying around"
The broken barge is well hidden and the team set camp.
As its about two hours before dark, Cody decides to cast Wizard Eye on Lois's cottage, located on a point on the stable roof that overlooks the grounds and front of the house. He sits and narrates what he sees.
There are gnolls moving around and loitering. They often leave and return to the stable. The house and everything looks ok. Over time, the count of different gnolls was at least 11. Could easily be more.
There is a human woman walking around (no armour) and a man wearing studded leather and has short sword and bow. Another man appears and joins them. Again, wiry looking.
The humans head into the house. No gnolls go in the house at all. The gnolls stay in the stable, grounds and on the cottage porch. The cottage has lanterns lit. Around midnight the gnolls are shooed into quarters and all the lights go out.
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| Le Brun in ruins |
Cody eventually nods off at midnight and the Wizard Eye finishes. In the early hours, the party rouse and decide to get closer to the village. They get to 10 minutes away and locate a good hiding spot. At light, Cody turns invisible and heads into the Village. It is in ruin. Wooden buildings are burnt to the ground. Bodies lie everywhere. There are no gnolls to be seen. The only building that mostly remains is the Golden Tongue inn as it is made of Stone. Unfortunately no barges either.
Cody walks through the woods to the rear of Lois's cottage and the secret tunnel entrance. It is still
there. He enters and walks through. Everything is as was left weeks ago by the party. The small room at the end of the entrance tunnel was there with the door broken. The portcullises open. He walks through and [fails penalty perception roll] sees the old slisher body rotting on the floor. Eventually Cody gets to the strong double door that kept Unt's pet in its pen, and it is closed and barred from the inside. That was left open as the group left last time. It is as far as Cody can go so he heads back.
***
The Cottage Assault
After a short rest and recovery, the party move secretly to the hidden woods tunnel. They all move down and into the larger room. One thing that is immediately noticeable is that the thrumming that generates web snot is weakly noticeable.
"Hey Cody, did you not feel this?" says Lois.
"Nope - didn't feel a thing" Cody responds.
Lois, Tom and Jack all feel the web snot starting to form again.
At the barred double doors, Willow uses his druid Animal Form ability to turn into a mouse and he heads under the doors, to the room with the perfect hole in the floor (to the pod). He notices a really strong thrumming here. The mouse goes quickly through the room back to the kitchen cellar. Something smells really bad and it seems to be the meat store. Not much edible in there now! Through the cellar and up the stairs to the kitchen where he smells and hears the cooking of a nice meal. He also notices the presence of a small terrier dog. That is enough and he speeds back to the double door. As the bar is heavy and Willow is weak, he passes BACK to the group as a mouse, while he still can.
"Why didn't you open the door!" the party complain.
"Because it looked heavy and I would be STUCK if I couldn't lift it" - he replies indignantly.
"Fair enough" the party agree.
The Trap
The party pause and plan. Go forward and attack from the cellar? Go back and attack from the path? Perform more reconnaissance?
About 30 minutes after the party arrived, there is a noise behind the group and the opening behind them transforms into a solid stone wall! Tom tests it and it is solid, real stone.
"It seems we have been spotted"
Tom points into the corner of the room at a strange object that Cody confirms to be a Wizard Eye.
As the decision has been made for them, Lois casts Knock on the door and the bar flies off.
Munch volunteers to sneak down the perfect smooth tunnel, to the metal pod. He makes good progress...
Meanwhile the party are waiting and they hear a feint zzzzzzppppp and a muffled Munch groan "ooomph", along with something meaty hitting the floor. Munch fails to return.
Cody and Tom decide to investigate while the rest of the group form a defensive wall in the tunnel room.
Cody and Tom do not see any sign of Munch or attacker. They are carefully walking along the flat tunnel when Cody perceives a flash out of the corner of his eye. He tries to dodge but is outclassed by an attack. A human male produces a magic stick light wand [light sabre] and hits Cody. Cody drops instantly with a significant wound.
Tom misses the surprise attack, but quickly readies to smack the living daylights out of the attacker. However, there is no sign of him. He has already turned invisible again. Tom flails around randomly trying to cover the width of the tunnel. Tom also yells out they were attacked and there is an invisible person.
The party hear and all move carefully toward Tom, Cody and Munch (wherever he is?). Eventually the party sees Tom in the distance. Lois casts Detect Invisible and there is nothing to see. They all meet up. Lois scans Cody with the scanner, and Cody restores to full health. Terrific device that. The scanner is really dimming now. Hope it holds out a little longer!
"Surrender or your friend dies!!!" a voice emanates from the hole that the pod is in.
Cody makes Tom invisible and Tom heads forward to the hole. The rest of the party engage the attacker to keep him distracted.
WAARRRPPP, WAARRRPPP, WAARRRPPP - Tom steps closer and an invisibility screamer on the floor in front goes off. This guy has all the tricks.
There is another zzzzpppp from down the hole, a flash of light and the smell of ozone. Everyone rushes forward. They yell at Tom to move back to shut the screamer up. He does so.
The group pick up the invisibility screamer and head to the edge of the hole. That trick works both ways! Munch is splayed out on the roof of the pod. Lois scans Munch and he returns to full health and leaps up. There is a distant noise from the cellar direction that gets everyone's attention.
Cody and Munch again work together. Munch opens the door to the Pod using the code, Cody drops in a fireball, Munch deftly closes the pod door. Wuumpppfff. To be sure, they repeat the process.
They finally open the door again and Esme drops in. The screamer is not activating, so they do not suspect the enemy is invisible. There is no sign of him. Just in time, Esme notices that there is a familiar pink glow from under the floor. A quick look shows that the Pod portal is active. There is a new trap door to access the underside of the Pod, and the portal. They have been busy.
While there is a lot of smoke and mild burn damage, the pod is in tact and operational. The remainder of the party, except Tom, pile into the Pod. They notice that an active screen now shows 4 green dots. The guess is that each one marks the position of a pod:
- One at Porn City
- One at Grey Bank
- Two here at Le Brun, close together
The party locate a new comms device in a drawer. It looks a little different. There is an image with a lightening bolt drawing on it. This disappears when lifting it up from the drawer.
There are three icons on the glass:
- A person icon that Cody, with Comprehend Languages reads as 3 contacts:
- Amelia
- Maier
- Siobhan
- The drawing that you push to talk to someone
- A little drawing with a small '1'
Cody presses the talk icon next to 'Siobhan' and THIS device vibrates. So this is Siobhan's "phone".
Cody presses the drawing with the '1' and a strangely familiar voice suddenly speaks out from the device, "They will be there in 6 days or so. Be ready for them!"
"Hey" observes Lois... "That sounds like my mother!!!!".
They repeat the message several times and Cody and Lois confirm that this is the voice of Sally Price.
"What the hell? We have been set up," Lois laments.
Lois checks the portal and there is no hex keyhole on this one. They prove that this is the side that you can enter and it is a one-way portal.
Cody casts a Fireball into the portal. It fires off and does NOT go through. Everyone (except Tom - Lois's coat absorbs 3 more points) takes damage. They won't do that again! [Lucky it was a bad roll! 5 on 3D6 ] A few rounds of curing occur. There has been nothing coming from the cellar direction, despite the noise.
Tom is summoned back and voids his Invisibility, and the screamer is picked up.
Through the Portal
For some reason, the decision is made to all go through the portal, hoping that the exit point is that second green dot in Le Brun. They all file through ... and end up in a hot room with three wooden, iron-bound door on three of the walls, and a pink portal on the remaining wall. There is a lit fire pit in the middle of the room generating light and heat.
There is no sound from beyond the doors and none seem to be locked.
Munch investigates each door.
- The straight ahead door. There is a passage that soon enters a room that has two very life-like statues of ugly warriors with large stone axes. He does not enter and retreats.
- Leads to a corridor with three alcoves either side of the passage. In each alcove is another stone statue of an ugly warrior with a huge axe. He does not move past them.
- Short passage ends in a large room that seems incredibly hot. Munch cannot see into far into the room. He returns.
The party decide to send fighters into Door 1. Esme, Tom and Rock head in. The 2 statues wake and intercept. The fight progresses with successful hits that allow Jack into the room for a 4 on 2 fight.
While the fighters are performing extremely well, it seems that the solid stone monsters take very little damage. They respectfully retreat and the golems(?) return to their waiting spots.
Back in the starting room, the party notice that the pink portal (where they entered) is now gone.
They decide to check out the sizzling hot large room. Munch sneaks further in. There is a channel to one side that has an active lava stream. No wonder this room is hot (50deg C).
However, Munch also notices three massive red, lizard like, creatures (salamanders?) basking in the warmth of the room. That is a no go...
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| Six alcoves |
Next idea and Cody attempts Rock to Mud on the corridor with the six alcoves.
The spell works succeeds and the corridor and the 6 statues all melt into a blog of mud. [This fifth-level arcane spell affects 100 cubic metres of rock. ]
Esme bravely leads forward and steps through the mud. She luckily avoids a trap door collapse in the floor toward the end of the corridor. Looking down, it seems to be a long fall into a subterranean room. Piles of bones under the trap. Carefully stepping past, she gets to a room with a door on the other side. Unfortunately there are two firepits. Each has a wispy creature shape in the flames. Probably fire elementals. Darn.
The party explore all the areas they can navigate for secret doors or anything that the original attacker might have used to get past all these obstacles. Nothing.
Munch lowers his magic Rope of Climbing down from the trap opening, into the room below. He descends. There is a large stack of bones just below the end of his rope. Munch can't quite reach it. He also spots a very recent body that looks very much like the attacker in the tunnels under Lois's cottage. The body is lying off to one side. "Hey , do you lot have something I can reach the pile of bones with to check it out?"
Esme decides that her 2m long +2 magical sword is totally fine to lend to the weak Munch to hang off a rope and prod bones with.
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| Esme's sword |
Ardern leans over and casts Detect Evil and sure enough, mild evil in the pile of bones. Ardern successfully climbs down the magic rope and turns undead. Three skeletons leave the pile and head across the room to a far exit. One of them drags the sword across the ground. Ardern still detects evil in the pile.
Cody steps in and drops a Fireball that was a bit limp. Casts another that smacks the pile of bones. No more evil from the pile.
Cody and Tom enter the room and inspect the body. It is indeed the attacker from Lois's cottage. The victim is withered and seems drained of all life force. Ardern checks again and there is a STRONG evil presence somewhere near.
Cody casts Detect Magic and notes:
- Magic Short Sword
- Magic Dagger
- Magic Ring
They also spot:
- Large red gem in the guys hand
- Metal Slisher attack tubes - one was Munch's
All gathered up. Meanwhile three skeletons enter the room. One still with Esme's sword. Rock and Jack join Tom and the skeletons are dispatched effortlessly. Esme gets her sword back.
Next week to decide what comes next....
