Defenders Log Entry #7: Adventures of the Party of Doom
Drew, 2nd level ranger, 19 hp, played by Jack
Morgan, 2nd level fighter, 12 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 2nd level druid, 10 hp, played by Jeremy
Felix, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Alex
Gaston, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Sean
Tyveris, 1st level cleric of Nevron, 10 hp, played by Joel
When we last left, our party had just accepted a mission to investigate the isle and remove the living inhabitants by whatever means necessary. We planned a bribe of transport away with money thrown in for extra encouragement.
The party set sail in October. We consisted of the ranger Drew and druid Quentin, original party members. Also, there was the elven fighter Morgan, the handsome half-orc fighter Felix, the northerner fighter Gaston, and his cousin the Nevronian cleric Tyveris.
We arrived uneventfully. We were transported at high tide in a longboat to the only accessible point, a small beach a few hundred feet wide. This was the beach where the attacks on the major's men had occurred previously, though not immediately upon landing. We suited up and decided on a course. We marched very slowly, hoping that only the fighters in the front would be subjected to immediate attack.
Unfortunately, we badly guessed their attack form. As we traveled about 30 feet up the edge of the beach, suddenly there were multiple sand spouts and we were set upon by 12 skeletons equipped with short swords, scimitars, and long swords. They appeared everywhere inside and outside our formation, and struck while we stood there surprised.
Felix dropped to the ground from sword thrusts. That left Morgan eclipsed by skeletons, but doing incredibly well at dodging stabs. Quentin stabbed at one with his scimitar, while Drew wielded a staff. Gaston moved to get the ocean to his back and faced off against three.
It looked very bad.
Drew toppled one with holy water, but was unused to the staff and its fighting style. Gaston fell a few moments later, pressed by the skeletons. Tyveris whipped out his holy symbol and began turning.
Morgan continued to single-handedly destroy the upper half of the skeletons, remaining untouched against remarkable numbers. Quentin slashed furiously and injured one. Finally, Tyveris managed to drop two of the skeletons into the sand with turning. Moments later, the rest sank from around Morgan, and we quickly backed up, pausing to heal Gaston.
We decided that perhaps we should rethink this. At that moment, a lone and gaunt-looking mule wandered down from the rocks, across the sand right to Felix. We were confused.
Quentin spoke with it, and we learned that it had seen "smelly people up there." (Not many, it said). We watched its path, and Quentin asked it if it had ever seen the white things. No, came the reply. Confused, we asked the mule to lead us up. It did so. We were promptly mobbed again.
This time about 14 skeletons came at us. Unfortunately, Tyveris was having a terrible time turning them away, and he did not succeed until very late in the battle.
This time the surprise was not so devastating, and Felix and Morgan remained unscathed. Gaston fell over injured again after a few moments. In the initial attack, one of the skeletons caused a wound in the concentrating Tyveris. Out of spells, he called for Quentin, who thanks to a well-timed smash by Morgan and Felix, was able to sprint to Tyveris. He cured him just as his first turning attempt failed.
In this battle, Drew proved his worth with the staff and smashed apart three skeletons. Quentin began a slow duel with several of them, defeating one. Felix and Morgan carved up the front, using the apparently unterrified and unnoticed mule for cover. The skeletons did not attack the mule.
Eventually, some of them sank into ground, but Quentin suffered a mortal blow and fell in the closing moments. Fortunately, Tyveris reached him, but it meant that both Quentin and the fallen Gaston were out of the action for the rest of the adventure.
We signaled the boat and returned back to the ship and discussed our options with the major. We decided that the four of us would try a central route straight up the middle, where the major claimed he had run into only 7 to 9 skeletons. First, we noticed that the bones of the dead skeletons remained, so were believe they are at least temporarily ineffective. We tried to head up the middle, back to back. The strategy did work in that they only appeared around us. 9 of them. Tyveris turned them all way in the initial attack.
We decided that we needed them dead but could only face a few at a time. Tyveris turned only 4 of the 9 this time and we fought them. In the closing moments, Felix suffered a major hit and a wound, but was bolstered by Tyveris, who had also suffered injuries. Together with Drew, Felix and Morgan slaughtered the five skeletons.
We retreated and healed Felix back up. Then we went at the other four. Unfortunately, Tyveris fell in the battle, but was saved by Drew. The party retreated back to the ship, and, out of options sailed away.
Well, we lost no one, and gained some information (Drew's valiant disbelieve attempt proved beyond a doubt that they were real). We will be given first shot at it next year with a smaller reward (1500 gp). It was frustrating, but not a total failure. And everyone lived.
There was one more interesting encounter. (out of character-- I rolled a 1 on the d20 for sea voyage). We were woken up in the middle of the night, peeked out of the cabin and couldn't help noticing the large sea lizard thing attacking the marines. Drew and Morgan shot at it, but the arrows bounced off uselessly. A formation of seven marines struck at it, barely scratching it. The thing gulped down one marine and disappeared. Moments, later, the 20 marines met the second attack, inflicting some damage and losing another man. In a third attack, the lizard ate one more man, and the attempted ballista attack missed.
Then came the interesting part. The beast surged up on the side of the ship, 4 feet in front of the ballista man. (He rolled a 20) He kicked it, and launched the ballista at a 4 foot range right through the thing's neck, causing it incredible pain. Unfortunately, the valiant sailor was then eaten and the thing disappeared under the waves for good.
There was a funeral held for the sailors of the Eagle 13 who had died.
We returned to Restenford. Drew went to Barnacus, trained to 2nd level, and returned in time for the rainy season to begin. We plan to work through the winter and attempt the island again in March.