The Twentieth Session

After leaving the Hurtiirthos Sanctuary, the Akanax guard returned their horses and then left for the capital to brief the king. The Sentinels traveled north through the Methwood to find the Tribridge Pass over the Methmere River, to get to Luthcheq where they would meet the Bloodsail Fleet. After a day of travel, they make camp. In the morning, they leave the pirates to pack up camp while they scout the paths ahead and find some breakfast, and come across a dead deer. Aoth discovers a trap, which Yief attempts to throw a rock at. After failing his roll to yeet, Yief drops the rock on his foot, breaking his pinky toe, which Aoth heals with the word "Butterfingers." Upon a second throw where he successfully lands the rock on the deer, the trap isn't set off, so Halrek attempts to disarm it, only to be nearly shot in both the hand and the foot by an arrow from a tree.

Aoth says "Alright, you can come out, we're not here to hurt you" though was followed by Halrek and Shag saying "No we totally might hurt you depending on who you are." In response, a female voice whisper-yelled "I don't care what you want to do, just shut the fuck up and get out of the fucking way!" as a dire bear charged into the area. Halrek jumped out of the way while Aoth and Shag both stumbled and Yief attempted to stand his ground. The bear toppled the three who didn't dodge over and began attacking, as they all repeatedly attacked it. Finally, Shag put a charming effect on the bear, stopping it from taking any actions until someone else attacked it. The voice from the tree said "Get it into the trap!" so they all gathered on the other side of the trap before hitting the bear to wake it up, prompting it to charge and become ensnared. The woman in the tree hopped down to reveal a teenaged, short, small framed, black haired wood elf girl, who drew a dagger and stabbed the bear in its neck, killing it.

In the process of taking it out of the net, bandages on her arms get caught on the bear's claws, pulling them down and revealing burns. Shag tells her that they have a healer, but after seeing Aoth's arm and Halrek's face, she is skeptical of their help, though she does agree, saying "Fuck it, I doubt you'll make it worse." Shag responds "Oh you have no idea..."

Aoth heals her arms, and she thanks him and introduces herself as Adema. She asks who the group is and what they're doing in the forest, so they tell her. She responds that the Tribridge Pass has been overrun by a bandit group that's been charging travelers to use the bridges, and that she and her father were going to sneak past them once she could get him some medical attention. They had fled Everleaf during the invasion and he was badly hurt while fighting off twelve soldiers on their way out of their hometown, and were separated from her older sister in the process. The group volunteers to kill the bandits, and she approves, saying if they're dead that they won't have to worry about sneaking while her father is wounded, which is very preferable. They bring her back to the camp, where they recover from the fight with the bear and make a plan.

Splitting into three groups, they decide to attack each bridge simultaneously so the bandits can't regroup and converge on any one bridge. The Sentinels take the middle bridge, and begin their assault with Halrek taking the form of Chariz and acting frail, hiding a dart behind a walking stick. When the bandits demanded he pay them 50 gold to pass, he pretended to be deaf, frustrating the bandits who kept on repeating themselves. Finally, Shag sent an illusion of a dire bear charging out of the forest, which Halrek threw a dart at, and Shag dispersed as if the bear turned to embers upon being hit. Upon seeing this, doubled with the effect of Halrek's blade Vicious, the bandits turned and ran in fear, prompting the bandits on the other side of the bridge to set off a flare, and the bandits in the middle of the bridge to charge in attack.

Through a series of small skirmishes, Shag finally ended up accepting he was going through an edgy emo phase and ensnared four of the bandits in a dark sphere of Eldritch horrors. This allowed the group to finish off the remaining bandits and stand outside the dark orb, waiting for a bandit to find their way out as they were squeezed by freezing tentacles and burned by an acidic air while being totally blind, however the bandits kept just walking into each other. Shag finally let up on the spell, saying "lights on" as the four were all brought to their knees, shuddering from the damage they took within the orb. He then immediately said "lights off" and cast Shatter, dealing a killing blow to three of the four. Yief then approached the fourth one, whispered in his ear "Raid: Shadow Legends" and killed him with his hammer.

Taking the stolen gold the bandits had, they also found a strange scaled egg that was only a bit larger than a chicken egg. They met back up with the rest of the group, who had successfully cleared their bridges. Adema thanked them and returned to the Methwood to get her father, saying they would have an easier time getting to their next destination. Everyone else continued toward Luthcheq.