Session 10

## Members

* Oleander Thorne the Fighter (Matt)
* Paldrag Adinon the Paladin (Played mostly by Matt, partly by Natalie with the occasional piece of advice by Alex)
* Naryrr the Druid (Natalie)
* Enjolras "Jojo" the Tiefling Wizard (Brian)

## The Adventure

We begin our session in Beridel Castle.

Our heroes were awakened in the barracks by a messenger sent by Finn the Merchant. The message read that Finn wanted to meet them outside the Quartermaster’s and that he had an urgent job opportunity for them. Before meeting Finn, Narryr bought a healing potion for Enjorlas (Jojo) so that the Tiefling Wizard would not be without one for the coming adventure.

Finn was glad the see Narryr, Jojo and Oleander; explaining that a good friend of his was unfortunately ambushed on the way to the castle and required some assistance in his travels. Not long after the meeting Finn, a carriage with 2 very similar looking human men riding in front passed the group and stopped nearby. The carriage was followed by a large cart driven by a very handsome human man. The carriage stopped before the group and the driver got out to give Finn a friendly embrace, thanking him for his advice on where he could get his cart quickly repaired and his horse replace. While the carriage was pulled by two well bred horses, the cart was a little out of place as it was pulled by one horse of a similar breed to the others, but it was paired with a simple donkey. The carts front left wheel had also been replaced by a makeshift wheel that was clearly a former barrel top. In the back of the cart was a large wooden crate.

The driver introduced himself to the group; Magnus Pyrimm, a procurer of rare goods. And he was surprised to find Oleander among the group, since Oleander was a former employee. From their history together, Oleander knew that Magnus was a good guy and a reliable employer, always paying fairly for a job well done. Magnus in turn knew that if Oleander was a part of this group then the rumors about them weren’t just talk. Magnus explained the situation further, telling the party that he and his men are on the returning half of a procurement. They were coming back from the Westdeep Forests when they came across a kobold ambush. Several of their members were killed and the driver of the cart, Perry, took an arrow in the shoulder. Not wanting to make a misstep, Narryr allowed Oleander to do the negotiations for the group. Oleander asked for 200 GP for each member, but Magnus was a little insulted by such over pricing for a simple transport job. Magnus countered with 100 GP, but Oleander drew on their history and asked for 125 GP like a former job that dealt with raiders. Magnus agreed, though it was a sentimental decision.

The next stop for the group was the Church of Bob, Narryr had hoped to get Jurgen to accompany them. Jurgen insisted on his 10 GP up front in addition to the promised final payment, but Narryr wouldn’t hear of it. After several failed counter proposals, seeing that Jurgen wouldn’t budge, Narryr asked that he return the Staff of Healing, which she kept for herself. Then she shrugged and called Paldrag to join them.

Narryr and Oleander went to see Perry, the driver of the cart and brother of Jerry and Terry; the two men with the carriage. Perry had refused magical healing from anyone who was not a member of the Church of Pelor (because he is a devote follower). Knowing why he refused healing from the Church of Bob, Narryr hunted through the town for some symbol of Pelor so she could pass herself off as a member. With amazing luck, she found a golden crest of Pelor in the donation box within the Church of Bob. She took it and wore it proudly as she and Oleander went to the inn to see Perry. He had refused magical healing, but the arrow had been removed and the wound treated. Oleander caught up with Perry and was able to find out more details about what happened. They had been hired to gather Thistle Root in the Westdeep Forest and seemed to have no problems. The carriage moved ahead of the cart and spotted the kobold ambush beforehand killing many. Apparently, some of the Kobolds played dead and hid among their fallen, when the cart later came through they didn’t think anything was odd about the kobold corpses by the road and the survivors were able to get the jump on them. Some lucky shots by the Kobolds killed 3 men, wounded Perry and damaged one of the cart’s wheels before the carriage came back and finished the kobolds off.

Narryr posing as a member of the Church of Pelor offered Perry healing and he was grateful for the offer, but when she raised the Staff of Healing and it started to glow, Perry was shocked that she would use a heretical item. Narryr apologized and instead went to cast cure wounds with her hands. Again, Perry was shocked that she didn’t offer any prayer to Pelor before casting. With a performance worthy of a Royal Bard, Narryr prayed to Pelor and cured Perry of his wounds. Perry got up from the bed happy and stretched. Narryr, talking too much, tried to explain why she had made some mistakes when she mentioned that she was a Druid. Perry reacted to this with shock and anger. Going into a rage, Perry yelled that Druids are not members of the CHURCH of Pelor. He proclaimed her a witch, then grabbed a nearby knife and drove it into his own shoulder. Perry kicked Narryr and Oleander out of the room, saying that he would never forgive them. From outside the room they could hear him breaking things inside. Luckily for them, Jerry and Terry were not there to hear what Narryr and Oleander had done to their brother.

With the preparations made, the group was ready to leave. Narryr volunteered to drive the cart with Oleander sitting up front next to her. Jojo and Paldrag were in the back with the crate filled with Thistle Root. The carriage left first, as planned; they would travel at least 120 ft. in front of the cart to spot/draw out any ambushes. Once the cart got to 120 ft. Narryr pulled on the reins, but nothing happened. She tried again, and nothing. Eventually Oleander reached over, whipped the reins correctly and handed them back to Narryr. Having never driven a cart, Narryr may not have been the best choice as driver. As they travelled along the road the carriage got further and further away from the cart, but they had known this might happen. The cart managed to avoid some obstacles on the road, but when Oleander spotted two creatures moving through the tall grass 120 ft. to the East, Narryr stopped the cart. While the others waited to see what appeared from the bushes Enjorlas jumped into action and a spectral hand launched from his own. It hit one of the creatures and they stopped moving. Oleander shot at the other, but again Jojo was the one to put it down for good. Narryr told Oleander to take a look and he found that they were a pair of Kobolds hiding out in a tree nearby. Oleander couldn’t find their stash, but they decided to move on. Again, Narryr didn’t seem to know how to get the horse and donkey to move. Jojo cast an illusion of a giant carrot in front of them, but the animals new it was fake because it had no scent. Oleander once more reached over, grabbing the reins and got the animals moving. Eventually they caught up to the carriage to find them setting up camp for the night. As they camped, Oleander caught up with his old friends, and learned that Kerry (a fourth brother) was absent because he caught a STI from an ‘innocent’ farm girl on the way to the Westdeep Forests, but they may be able to meet up with him on the return trip and Narryr learned more about the cart from Terry. During the night the watch seemed uneventful, but at the very end of the night Terry spotted two golden eyes reflecting the campfire in the far distance (200 ft.), he woke Jerry and without words Jerry knew what was going on. He grabbed his heavy crossbow and took a shot. But missed. The watcher ran off.

Knowing they were being watched, the group knew they should be even more vigilant as they travelled. They set off for the second day. They continued as they had the day before, with the carriage travelling ahead of the cart. Narryr was able to handle driving much better than the day before. They came across stone bridge that was too small for the cart. Jojo cast levitation on the cart rather than risk driving through the stream. They travelled peacefully for a few more hours before the replacement wheel came of the axel. Enjorlas was able to determine how to fix it, Paldrag lifted the cart up while Narryr was able to attach the wheel back on. The carriage was now well ahead of them, but still within eyesight.

A bend in the road forced the carriage out of the party’s line of sight. After a few minutes, the party heard a loud “boom”, followed by a second “boom”. Narryr was also able to make out the sound of metal clashing on metal. The group rushed towards the bend in the road, but took caution from there. Enjorlas and Narryr stayed with the cart in case of further attacks, but Oleander and Paldrag went to investigate what happened to the carriage. They found a bloody scene. Goblin and Hobgoblin bodies laid in all directions around an overturned carriage. After confirming that there weren’t any hostile creatures around, Paldrag returned to the cart to collect the others. As a group, they found 14 goblin and hobgoblin bodies with either crossbow bolts protruding from their corpses or deep cuts. But the tracks indicated that there were many more earlier. A large tree blocked the road and the base of it was splintered as if it were pulverized by an overwhelming force. Among the goblin and hobgoblin tracks were also the tracks of several wolves, a lion and a creature that none of the group recognized; they could simply ascertain that it was large and walked on 4 paws. Oleander and Paldrag tried to put the carriage back on its wheels, but it wasn’t until Narryr stepped in that they could accomplish it. On the outside of the carriage, as well as on all of the goblin and hobgoblin corpses was a large purple hand-shaped mark. Oleander recognized it as the calling card of the Purple Hand Raiders; a former adventuring group turned to banditry when they couldn’t get work due to discrimination. Their leader is rumored to be a powerful warlock. Narryr managed to heal the horses before they reached true death and used ‘speak with animals’ to try to get some helpful information from them (after talking with Mary (the horse) and George (the donkey) from the cart). Unfortunately, Bobby and Paulie were traumatized by their near-death experiences, trying to reach where their fatal wounds once lay with their hooves. They merely confirmed that they were attacked by goblins. Oleander searched the inside of the carriage for more clues, but instead found that one of the floorboards under the seats was not nailed in like the others. He could push the board back, dropping the board that was on top of it down. He reached in, to pull the board out, but quickly pulled his hand back when he felt a prick. A poison needle trap had been set on the second board. Luckily Oleander was not poisoned by it. He managed to remove and keep the needle, then removed the board. Later he told the group about how he found a chest that had been broken into inside the secret chamber.

Because there were no signs of the Magnus, Terry or Jerry near the carriage, the group decided to follow the raiders’ tracks into the forest. Narryr led the way in her Dire Wolf form. After a while Paldrag was noticed by a goblin look out. (Two look outs were in trees.) They shot at Paldrag, but their arrows bounced off of his plate armor. Oleander felled one with an arrow and Enjorlas took out the other with the same ghostly hand he had used before. The two were clearly marked with the same purple hand print. The group continued to track the raiders.

Eventually Narryr lead them to a river flowing out from a cave entrance. A thin walkable path ran parallel to the river and the river itself was only 2 or 3 feet deep. As the group walked across the river they didn’t notice sharp crystals that had been placed in the river bed and most of the party suffered a little. After entering the cave, the group immediately noticed a small room to the right. Inside they saw a pile of garbage and many of the group seemed afraid of the possibility of rats. Oleander eventually investigated further and found a thin, steep tunnel that seemed to be used as a garbage shoot. The group decided to ignore the garbage shoot, as it seemed difficult to climb, and continued along the river path. They progressed a little before they were spotted by a look out. The lookout immediately screamed, “Intruders! Open the floodgates!” The roaring sound of water echoed through the cave tunnel. Hearing this Jojo blinked himself into a parallel plane of existence, then ran outside the cave to safety. Paldrag, still near the entrance, also went further outside. Dire wolf Narryr went after the goblin lookout who was midway up a rope leading to a higher segment in the tunnel. She went to bite him, but missed. Oleander backed back into the garbage room they had found then pulled an arrow, shooting and killing the goblin which fell in front of Narryr’s paws. Narryr found partial cover, but she and Oleander were swept up by the wave.

After the water left the tunnel Jojo returned to see 3 goblins now standing ready on top of a bridge ahead that was 30 ft. above the river, crossing it. Narryr managed to climb up to where the lookout was going only to find that there was another climb after that. Oleander and Paldrag followed the river path and clashed with 3 hobgoblins. The goblin archers, led by an Archer Captain, had little luck against Paldrag. The captain even dropped his long bow and had to take a short bow from one of his men. The captain called for his men to open the second floodgate. Paldrag and Oleander fought off the Hobgoblins, but Paldrag wasn’t able to get to higher ground before the second floodgate trap was triggered and he was swept back by a torrent of water. Meanwhile Jojo had cast levitate on himself and was attempting to follow Narryr, but wasn’t quite used to floating around. He seemed to enjoy himself anyway. The party attacked the bridge from both sides, and at times from above thanks to a floating wizard. They took out two of the goblins easily enough, but the Archer Captain managed to put up a bit of a fight, even knocking Narryr out of Beast Shape. However, he, too, fell eventually. Narryr eagerly stripped his corpse of some armor and was pleased when she felt a familiar tingling sensation. Oleander and Jojo also managed to find some poison arrows and magical bracers on the corpse. Narryr was eager to spend some time familiarizing herself with the magic armor. The group decided that it would be best to leave the cave and take a short rest before attempting to delve any deeper into the tunnels, though Jojo was curious about a door that they had found. With surprisingly little consideration for what a delay might mean for the people they came to rescue or of the enemies they came to slay, the group left the cave and travelled back into the forest to take some time to regroup. Narryr was pleased to find that the armor was magical studded leather armor. When Enjorlas found out that the bracers were bracers of archery he nonchalantly passed them to Oleander. The group took an hour to rest and recuperate and are now eager to return to the cave hideout and rescue their friends…if they’re still alive by this point.

We’ll find out how the adventure ends, next week! On Elves of the Inaka!

One Shot!

Part Two!!!

Queue credits.

This week’s one-shot was brought to you by Burning Man. It doesn’t change you, it awakens you.

## Rumors (plot hooks)

1. Lizard-men live in the marshes.
2. Beware the mad hermit of the north lands.

XP
--

??? Each

Current XP: ???

Current level: 5; ??? XP until next level

(Chris can decide this later)