Welcome
Alamar
I woke up 15 minutes later inside a bloody cave bear’s guts. No one found me so it all went according to plan.
So all of my friends… well they weren’t really friends… are dead. I can say that now that they are dead, right? They were useful, and now they are not useful. Well, not completely useless yet; let me go check their bodies for useful stuff. Back in 5 minutes.
We fought the ghoul, but the fae blade couldn’t touch it, and I couldn’t attack anything else – it was like I was possessed, even though I kept my head for the first minute or two. I’m getting more and more reluctant to draw that damn magic sword, especially since it couldn’t even hit the damn thing I was so focused on. The sword just passed right through despite perfect form. It was the most frustrating fight of my life, as the thing’s summoned minions choked me with their boney fingers. Last time I go with the kid on one of his personal quests, I swear. Ygnas managed to scare off the first three undead minions, which probably saved our lives, but the ghoul struck her down and summoned three more right away. At least they weren’t all attacking us at once.
Session map
As it turned out, I found the trap mecvhanism myself, and got a mouthful of poison gas in the process. The kid was busy having a barbarian staring contest with a spirit wolf. Seems he asked it for a gift when it offered a question answered. Wolf spirits are prickly things. It especially did not appreciate being asked to bless Snausages. After he got that sorted out we demonstrated the trap mechanism, and figured out a way to safely discharge the trap when opening the door. It involved using the dead giant centipede heads. Don’t ask.
Session map
Bern sent a message that he needed me to help u-Heury explore some barbarian tribe burial mound, so I went over to check it out and met up with Ygnas and Landon, who were presently dangling u-Heury down a well from a rope. The rest of us followed, and the kid promptly stuck his spear into the wall and opened a secret door, revealing a small group of drunken goblins. We negotiated and found out they were being oppressed (“Help! Help! I’m being oppressed!”) by a new dark elf arrival named Skazzic, who had convinced their old chief or shaman to be friends. We went and talked to the dark elf, who seemed to hit it off with Landon remarkably well. One might almost say suspiciously well. Landon immediately proposed we go convince Hogarth (the goblin leader) to submit to Skazzic, for… no discernable reason aside from a vague promise of a reward. We returned, negotiated further with Hogarth, poisoned most of his goblins, drank with the rest, cowed Hogarth into submission, then convinced him to pretend to submit to Skazzic so we could double-cross and kill Skazzic. (And it made even less sense than that as it happened).
(Interlude)
So Lyrian and I got to drinking and talking (in that order) and decided to go investigate the strange lack of rumors from Helix, seeing as I grew up there. We signed up with a caravan heading to Ironguard Motte, and managed to get there in just under two weeks. A glorious dinner at The Bloated Halfling led to an attempt at a conversation with the wizard Mazah, but he wasn’t in. The rumor mill suggested that the undead in Helix are seasonal; the winters slow them down, apparently, and then the spring thaws bring them up out of the earth again. Weird.
Session map
So we stumbled around in the forest for a while, looking for a mound and finding nothing. We did find a nest of phase spiders, which are like normal spiders except they can disappear, and have an absolutely vicious poison that takes ten minutes to kill you. We didn’t realize they were phase spiders at first; the kid shot one with his bow and hurt it a bit, but I put in a solid hit with mine and it just bounced off. Something about the kid lets him hit the spiders when I can’t. Maybe he’s dipping his arrows into one of those poltices he is always talking about. I’ll have to watch him more closely, maybe I can learn something.
map
So the dragon gave us 31gp (each) for the dragon egg. Damned stingy dragon.
We explored further in the underground complex after delivering the egg. I volunteered to take a mushroom and explore the small tunnels, since I can actually hide, unlike Alia.
I found zombies, watched over by a humanoid figure of some kind from the top of a cliff. Alia and Thea went after the watching figure, leaving the zombies to Craig, K-9, and my small but still incredibly potent eldritch self. We made short work of the zombies after a tense moment when K9 got himself surrounded. But he should get used to it. It’s his role, to be loud, obvious, and attention-getting. Not at all like my subtle, shadowy, seductively charming role as party leader, rogue extraordinaire, and sex object to the ladies.
Session map
Oscar sent word that he had found a sword that might work well for me. Apparently it has some history with the White League, a group of rangers dedicated to opposing … things. It’s a little unclear exactly what things. This one is supposed to oppose scales, even though we found it in the barrow of a dead lizard king, and the blade itself is covered in serpent markings. When I drew it to test the balance, it spoke to me, briefly, and asked if I was willing to oppose scales. I said sure, I’m all about the fur. My pappy was a werewolf, after all, I have no truck with scaly things. I think I can get along with this sword.
Through rain, through mist, through flood and foul weather, we finally made our way to Threshold. U-heary and I camped outside while Stria went to find Basil, and we arranged to meet at the gate in case the guards had awkward questions about our exotic zoo animal. They did, but after taking our names (I gave my real name, and my companions did not) and paying taxes, they let the creature into the city and into Basil’s hands. I was very careful to describe it only as an exotic beast, so I was completely truthful. If the guards wrote down that we brought in a panther, well, that’s not on me. And if a gibbering mouther escapes into the sewers, I won’t be blamed, because I brought in a panther according to the official records. Bureaucracy is a wonderful thing when you know how to use it.
Session map
With the gibbering mouther not where we had expected it, and not visible in the darkness, I had to retreat without attempting to neutralize it’s magical powers. Luckily not all of our group had fallen to the creature’s unholy powers. I hurried back towards the group, swapping places with u-Heury. While the brave boy held off the creature, I called upon Denara, and silenced it’s gibbering. The creature failed to resist. Our first step was complete.