Escort Mission!

## Premise

Craven needs some extra security to get some rare cargo through the mountains to the Picksar Protectorate! What shenanigans will occur? Many! Most goat related! Also everyone has a horse friend.

## Cast

* Hexabeast (DM)
* Bilgerat (Krakenator)
* Gray (Jazz)
* Lilie (Drawotion)

## Notable NPCs

* Craven (Caravan driver)
* Silas Almasy (Reelkind Human Paladin)
* Riona Lilyheart (Reelkind Elf Ranger)

## Plot Summary

### Part 1

Caravan driver Craven has hired Gray, Lilie and Bilgerat as extra security for a delivery from Gisnep, through the mountains and into the Picksar Protectorate. Lilie is the first to arrive, introduces herself and is immediately put to work helping load up the carts. Bilgerat arrives second and is immediately in awe of the two Rough Draft Horses, Bea and Amir, hooked up to the two carts. He also introduces himself and is put to work alongside Lilie loading the carts. Bilgerat does notice that the cargo is a lot of extremely high quality metals and parts, some of which are kept in secure crates marked with hazard symbols. Gray is the final member to arrive, and enthusiastically introduces himself to Craven and the others. Handshakes are exchanged all around, and Craven instructs the group to follow him.

He leads them to 5 horses, and instructs each of them to pick one, as the journey through the mountains will take three days and he does not want the group to be tired from hiking should trouble arise. Lilie sees the smallest, most enthusiastic looking horse and immediately claims that one as hers with absolutely no intention of riding it. Gray sees the horse with the biggest attitude problem there and declares they will be friends and selects that one. Bilgerat picks the most chill horse, and immediately befriends it by offering it an apple. With their horses selected, the group return to the caravan.

They see a pair of reelkind with the caravan when they arrive: Silas and Riona, the last pair of Craven's hired security. Craven gives the group the pre-march speech and mentions the journey will take 3 days and wants the group to be prepared for anything, including rock slides and potential road hazards. They saddle up their horses, Riona gets in the cart with Craven and Silas rides the second, and they set off!

The journey is uneventful at first. A large snake spooks Bea and causes part of the yolk of the cart to break. Bilgerat and Gray are able to figure out a way to repair the damage and with Lilie and Silas's help they manage to cobble together a fix that will get them through the mountains. Craven is thankful and adds some gold into their payment for doing such an excellent repair.

Their first night is also fairly uneventful. Gray gathers enough food to feed everyone a hearty stew and takes first watch. He catches Silas and Riona arguing in Elven but otherwise nothing happens. Bilgerat takes the next watch and hears a lizard scuttling about in one of the carts trying to steal a piece of cargo mistaken for food. He gets Riona's help and they catch the lizard and scare it off with actual food. The rest of his shift is uneventful. Lilie takes the early morning shift and spends the night distracted by the adorable animals and staring at Silas until he wakes up. Silas ends up screaming awake the entire camp as a result and the group decides to continue on once morning routines are completed.

Day two and the group manage to not get crushed under a rockslide that one of the carts trigger. They also encounter a herd of goats blocking their path, and the goats have no intention of moving, and act potentially hostile. Gray tells Lilie to roar to scare the goats, and amplifies her voice to help. She does so, and the goats are immediately terrified and scatter, and her roar also causes another rockslide back the way they came. The journey through the bulk of the mountains continues uneventfully, for the group, and they settle down that evening for night two with Gray and Riona gathering more food for the group. This ends Part 1.

### Part 2

The game continues with the group setting up for watch shifts. Silas and Riona actually take the first watch, letting Gray rest. Bilgerat takes second shift and hears strange noises around the camp. He alerts the others and Gray, using his Beast Sense, can tell a large herd of something has surrounded the camp. At that moment, a Dire Goat charges out of the darkness at Silas. The group then confirm it's the goat herd from earlier, and prepare for combat. Gray tries to reason with these goats but they aren't having it. The group have to fight these goats.

They manage to, with difficulty, chase off the goats from the campsite. Bilgerat is a little worse for wear but Silas gives him a quick heal, just to make sure he's in fighting condition should anything else happen. The rest of the evening goes quietly, but Bilgerat hears some rockslides in the distance that could possibly impede their path. He mentions as much to Craven the next morning, and Craven assures him there are other routes they can take through the mountains if need be, but to not worry about it.

Travel continues and Craven and Lilie begin to notice some troubling things: All the side paths have been blocked by rockslides. Which is unusual. Bilgerat concludes someone must be herding them somewhere and Craven agrees. The caravan are preparing for the worst, which they find in the form of their main road ahead being blocked, and the only route available now to them being a small, narrow side path. Everyone gets ready for something to happen and are rewarded by a bolt of lightning blasting the path behind them closed, thus trapping them in. Immediately the group are set upon by three bandits and one mystery person in armor and a high tech looking helmet.

Determined to not lose any of the cargo, Gray, and Bilgerat focus on the armored bandit while Silas, Riona and Lilie take care of the other three. The three are easily dispatched and the armored bandit casts shatter on one of the carts, scattering the cargo around the path and damaging the cart. The group focus all their might against the armored bandit and manage to damage the helmet they wear. The bandit throws the helmet off revealing a reelkind Half-elf who creates duplicates of himself that scatter in all directions. The group poof 2 and Bilgerat takes careful aim at the one bolting for the rock slide and shoots him in the back, dropping him. The group move to check in on the would-be thief, but the half-elf casts invisibility on himself and vanishes somewhere into the mountains with nothing to show for his attempted burglary.

Craven is so pleased with how well the fight turned out, noting it could have gone far south. They end up picking up the scattered cargo and get the cart back in order to continue their track. Along the way they encounter the goat herder, who shows them a shortcut back to the main path and allows them to arrive at their delivery location with only a minor delay. The group arrive and are rewarded handsomely for their stellar performance, and Craven mentions they were the finest security detail he had ever had and would be delighted to hire them again. Lilie also gives Silas a talky stone to keep in contact as the two reelkind depart the group. Gray runs over and hugs them, which initiates a group hug for everyone.

As Silas and Riona depart, Craven invites the others to the Inn for some stew.

## Notes

The second session the group rolled ***6 Nat 20's*** in one fight and Hex lost their goddamn mind and had to rewrite how the story continues as a result.

## Session Recording

Part One

Part Two

## Art Gallery

Silas did, in fact, lose a tooth oncePoor Silas got bullied all morning, honestlyBilgerat knows herbs and is curiousEveryone is just interested in this grumpRough Draft Horses is the DM's greatest pun to date.The bean-grandpa himself