Defenders Log Entry #28: Traveling Through Forest Without Bandits
Not a particularly exciting game session, but progress was made.
Felix, 5th level fighter, 53 hp, played by Joel (for the summer)
Balinor Buckannah, 4th level fighter, 43 hp, played by Joel
Cassian, 5th level cleric, 31 hp, played by Katherine
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 27 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 6th level druid, 25 hp, played by Jeremy
Kodo Buckannah, 1st level woodsman, 24 hp, played by Rob
Donald, 3rd level mage, 16 hp, NPC
Lynore, 1st level thief, 7 hp, played by Aaron
Narahn, 1st level fighter, 7 hp, played by Dave
Alduin, 1st level thief, 6 hp, played by Vic
First we set out from Port o'Carse, and traveled along the road to Tulan. Setting out south from the town, we traveled along the south side of the mountains, running through a series of encounters.
First, we saw some hobgoblins with weird paint on them, nodded and went separate ways.
Later, Quentin talked down two giant weasels planning to attack Morgan.
Then, we encountered some weird spectral figure, politely claiming to be a caretaker of the land, and asking for some shiny objects to help replenish it. We paid 30 gp.
After that, we ran into what seemed like an amazing 40 plus bugbear ambush. The leader demanded that we put down our weapons and pay 50 gp for passage. He specifically demanded that we put the money in a sack and lay it on the ground in front of us. Despite heated and enraged protests from Balinor, the party realized it was badly outnumbered and gave in.
Balinor agreed, on the condition that we would come back during the night and slaughter them.
The whole thing seemed pretty odd, and when we returned we discovered that there were ABSOLUTELY NO TRACKS near where the 40 bugbears were. Furthermore, there was on heavily depressed "cat" track (large wild cat), and a few smaller ones near where the money was placed, but nothing else.
At a loss, the party moved on. The current theory is that some kind of illusionist is following us and extorting money.
The party reached a river and headed upstream to check it out. A ways up was a mechanical bridge operated by some hobgoblins. We paid 20 gp and crossed. We made a fool out of ourselves asking for information, but did discover that there are four peaks, and that the map seems remarkably accurate. We were headed for the pass between the third and fourth peak.
We headed back down the river, where we ran into a game trail. We discovered this when Balinor fell into a pit, taking minor damage and avoiding the spikes.
50 feet later, Kodo narrowly avoided a net trap.
We wisely got off the trail.
Quentin talked down a snake.
We passed a totem with human and gnoll skulls, but no writing.
That night, the owl hooted, and we all got up, to discover that "bats" had been circling the camp. We went back to sleep, but on the next watch something happened.
A hill giant or large ogre burst into the clearing and tried to kill one of our mules. Kodo, who was on watch, charged it and missed, and was struck powerfully. Of course, Kodo is ridiculously durable for a beginning adventurer, and retreated back to Quentin for healing. A Cure Serious Wounds allowed him to return to the battle.
Meanwhile, Morgan, Felix, and Balinor closed with it. It bellowed in Common, "My mule!" Cassian Commanded it to Die!, but it failed. Felix sliced at it and inflicted a wound. Morgan and Balinor also injured it, and a spectacular bowshot from the new halfing bow specialist, Narahn, sent it running. It dropped the mule and bolted, Balinor smacking it as it ran.
Figuring it would bleed to death if we chased it long enough, Balinor, Felix, Morgan, Alduin the thief, and the recovered Kodo chased it. After nearly losing the trail, we found it almost finished healing. It threw boulders at us, harrassing us but missing repeatedly. Eventually, it simply died from its wounds. It had nothing of value to us, but it was clearly wearing battle armor with weird insignias. It was clearly part of an actual group, though what group is unknown.
Cassian saved the mule with a Death's Door, and we continued on, stopping to heal at the end. Eventually we discovered another totem and headed on.
We came across a strange stone pagoda in a small bowl shaped valley. We investigated, but saw nothing of interest. Detect Magic revealed nothing. As we turned to leave, Kodo heard a scraping noise coming from below us. We left quickly.
Finally, we found a trail leading up between the third and fourth peaks. This was not a full trail, but it might lead to the one we wanted. Heading up, a small rockslide hit the front lines, slightly injuring Cassian, Balinor, Felix, and Kodo. We sent the two thieves to scout on ahead and see if there was someone triggering the slide. Alduin was concealed well, but unfortunately the little lizard things spotted Lynore. He was shot several times, but fortunately for small damage (1-3). There were little halfling sized lizards that Donald suggested were kobolds.
Lynore ducked behind a rock quickly. He rose up, took two more hits, shot his crossbow and took one down. Then he bolted down the slope for his life. He dodged several more shots and came bleeding to the party. We decided to leave the pathetic things alone.
We soon came across the trail we had been looking for. We headed down the trail a ways, and encountered a stone giant. We eyed each other warily and avoided each other.
Finally, on our left was a path with wagon ruts in it-- curious up here. We decided to investigate.
Next game session: Are we there yet?
Joel/Balinor