+- Ravenblade Forum (https://ravenblade.net/forum)
+-- Forum: Erath Campaign (https://ravenblade.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=6)
+--- Forum: Erath 5e Background (https://ravenblade.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=19)
+--- Thread: Game Session Recaps (/showthread.php?tid=230)
Pages:
1
2
RE: Game Session Recaps - frenzied67 - 04-14-2024
Highlights of Episode Seventy Nine
Gurthos 8th CE 1031
Gurthos 8th CE 1031
This prison room was almost forty feet wide and ran unchanged southward into darkness. Two rows of cage cells that were ten by ten in size and had bars that ran floor to ceiling stretched into those southern shadows. Five foot wide walkways ran by each row of cells on the east, the middle, and the west. Two doors could be seen along the eastern wall, about thirty feet apart from each other and the landing below the stairs the party were (mostly) now on.
Several of the Halforc guards and crossbow men froze upon seeing the huge flaming form of the elemental manifest, taken aback by magic they instinctively knew was beyond them. However one showed steel in his spine by running up and laying a short sword stroke on the searing creature. This did some damage, but the guard was burned due his proximity; he decided to move away from the heat and set himself up for an opportunity attack from the elemental. The Halforc lit up like a campfire. The next to attack was Jolly, who ran down the steps and tried a Frostbite cantrip on the Weevil Priestess. Though limned in ryme, the woman took no damage. After the sorcerer darted back into cover, Blaylocke stepped out and fired his bow and hit a guard. Another crossbow halforc hesitated in taking an action, not liking the looks of the party and their menacing elemental.
Meanwhile another guard took the time to smother the flames on his burning comrade, saving that Halorc’s life. Another one shot the elemental, and though he hit, the bolt did not seem to effect the creature as it would have a regular person (resistance?). Riardon moved out from cover and hit the once burning Halforc with his Firebolt cantrip, almost killing the brute. Another bolt zipped by the Elemental from a shooter who ran up out of the darkened southern portions of the prison. Wading through the freed men, women, and children from the pits, Grynn was able to get himself off the slave pit platform and down the stairs, almost to the wide landing beside the prison.
A man in ornate robes appeared from the south and screamed at the Halforcs: “You fools, it is the priestess who controls the fire elemental, shoot her!” He then popped a Dispel Magic on Leiya, dismissing her Continual Flame, and Aid spells, but his aim had been to get rid of the elemental. He failed. A Halforc guard interposed himself between this priest and the party. The weevil priestess that the party had faced in the slave pits appeared out of the dark, moving with an uncanny speed and surrounded by a field of glowing demonic shapes (an evil version of Spiritual Guardians). Though in the middle row of the cells, she was unable to bring the sphere of her spell onto the heroes, but she did hit the fire elemental with a successful Banish spell; a spell that is very efficacious against extra planar creatures.
Enkili finally got to wade through the party’s 19 charges and get down the stairs, catching his first glimpse of the fray. More guards and snipers moved into the party’s light, coming up from the south. Leiya fired at a sniper with a Guiding Bolt, but shot a little wide; grimacing she backed away from the corner. One of the new arrivals hit her with a crossbow, doing a little damage to her. Skipping to the front ranks of the foes, Jolrael cast a Thunderwave on a sniper, a guard, and the Weevil Priestess. Electricity jumped off his body onto the two Halforcs he was next to as the spell took effect (a class feature). He killed the previously burned sniper and tossed the guard hard into the cell bars a few feet away. The priestess was tossed, and through a stroke of luck, lost her concentration on the Spiritual Guardians.
Without the menacing field around her, Enkili saw an opportunity to lay into the Weevil Priestess. He charged forward and cut her deeply with the Sainted Sword, but only hit once. Directing his crossbow on the priestess, Grynn put a bolt in her then put himself in front of Leiya, checking to see how much harm she had taken. Guards and snipers lit up in a sudden frenzy seeing their Weevil Priestess brought to harm. Enkili took a critical from a crossbow, then a pug nosed assassin popped out of thin air planting steel in his back (auto crit). That rogue disengaged and ran down the eastern path beside the cells. A guard failed to land a blow on the fighter, but another sniper did hit. To add insult to injury, the Weevil Priestess also landed a blow on Enkili with a mace before slipping away with unnatural speed, denying the fighter a reprisal.
Placing herself in harms way, Leiya closed on Enkili and two of the Halforcs harrassing him. She hit the guard nearest the fighter then improved his devastated health with a Healing Word cantrip. The Guard she struck crit hit Leiya in retaliation, while another guard assumed the foul priestess’ place and attacked Enkili, keeping his health low. When Blaylocke stepped out to take his next shot, he noticed the Weevil Priestess through the bars of several eastern cages. He fired a Raulothim’s Psychic Lance spell instead of using his crossbow. The witch went down. Another bolt shattered on the northern wall near Enkili’s noggin. The male priest bent down and cast some form of healing magic of the Weevil Priestess, seemingly undoing all of Blaylocke’s hard work.
Cursing at the tenacity of their foes, Riardon chose to try his bow on a sniper. His shot killed the Halforc, so the Elf ducked back into cover looking for something, anything, he had that would help turn the tide. Two more snipers fired at Enkili, one hitting and the other missing. Again Jolrael moved into combat range next to Leiya. He intended to cast Aganazaar’s Scorcher, but the evil Priest man counterspelled with the spell of the same name. Avoiding an opportunity attack, Leiya repositioned herself behind Enkili and dressed his wounds with her Healing Kit, staunching several wounds even as he continued to melee with their foes.
A guard swung a sword at Jolly, but the sorcerer practically danced away from the blow. Even though Leiya tried to protect him, another guard smacked Enkili with his weapon. Standing back up, the Weevil Priestess again surrounded herself with a Spiritual Guardians spell, however, too many Halforcs had interposed themselves between her and the party so she was unable to bring any party members under the spread of that fell magic. Riardon tried to Firebolt the Weevil Priestess, but failed to connect with the cantrip; he stepped back into safety to continue rifling his bags and pockets.
A sniper pulled his sword and struck Jolrael a daunting blow. Luck was with the sorcerer as the Aid spell on him absorbed most of the damage he would have otherwise taken. The evil priest manifested a Spiritual Weapon behind Jolly (which missed its attack) before casting an unholy version of Guiding Bolt at the sorcerer. Quick reflexes saved Jolrael from harm again, though the spell caster began to look harried. Enkili was hit by another crossbow bolt. At a key moment in the fight, Blaylocke planted a Confusion spell in the midst of the orcs in the central northern walkway, catching four Halforc guards and snipers and almost catching up the Weevil Priestess. Using his Preserve Life ability, Grynn brought a great healing on Enkili. Melana’s newest priest then produced a Spiritual Weapon of his own to harm and harass the few Halforc’s not bound in the Confusion spell.
The Assassin (who was in the eastern aisle) shot Grynn with a crossbow, then melted back into the shadows in the south. Rubbing some dirt into his wounds, Enkili struck down a sniper then mauled a guard; he eyed the Weevil Priestess trying to figure out how to end her once and for all; too many Halforc’s stood between him and her still. Trying his frosty cantrip once more, Jolrael’s Frostbite magic hurt the Priestess this time around. He then dodged an opportunity attack and moved out of melee. Grinning, Grynn whapped a sniper up side the cranium with his mace, a blow that ended that threat forever. He then had his Spiritual Weapon phase through the cages to attack another Halforc sniper in the mid aisle, who was also brought low. A spell struck (confused) guard spent the next several seconds contemplating the solidity of a single bar of a cage, while another Confusion bound sniper pulled a blade and offed an addled guard up along the north wall.
Pulling forth his Wand of the Warmage, Riardon realized he now had the right tool in hand. With its granted power he was able to weave a Firebolt around prison bars to hit the Weevil Priestess. Now in the center aisle, the assassin moved up behind the priestess and tried to put a bolt into Enkili but missed. The malevolent Spiritual Weapon the Evil Priest had made struck Grynn in the side, then the violent cleric hit Melana’s priest with a Sacred Flame; a double whammy that Grynn easily shrugged off. That villain backed away down the center aisle until concealed in the shadows.
Thinking it would be easy to get at the Weevil Priestess because all the Halforc’s were spell addled, Enkili attempted to push through a sniper after moving into the Spiritual Guardian’s damaging field. That sniper resisted, so Enkili had to spend his time chopping up him and his surviving addle witted friend. He was then able to move up and verbally threaten the priestess face to face. Using her crossbow, Leiya managed to graze the Weevil Priestess with a bolt. She then braved the evil spell and got behind Enkili, shrugging off the damage. With all the Halforcs down the Weevil Priestess chose discretion once again. She disengaged from Enkili, pushed passed the assassin, and disappeared south.
Miffed because the Weevil Priestess was getting away again, Enkili poured his disappointment on the assassin instead, severely wounding the man but failing to impose fear into the rogue. This set Jolrael up for using his Frostbite. He killed the assassin with the cantrip. Grynn set his Spiritual Weapon into moving south through the cages, seemingly following him as he ran south down the eastern aisle. Riardon came around the corner and found the battlefield greatly changed. He moved further into the prison until he could see the Evil Priest. His Firebolt fired through the wand easily hit the foul cleric 55' away. Blaylocke also moved out until he found the only enemy in sight. The Evil Priest was struck hard by another use of Raulothim’s Psychic Lance. Surprisingly the man lived through it and continued his retrograde action.
Noticing keys on the guard’s and sniper’s bodies, Leiya retrives a set from the nearest body, she then set about openeing the topmost western cage using soothing tones to reassure the prisoners as she worked. Showing his tenacity, Grynn chased into the dark southern portion of the prison. He discovered that the slaver’s priest and priestess had both fled down a set of stairs along the south eastern wall, just passed the last cage. There was no one he could see down the first flight of steps. Calling back his discovery, he managed to dissuade anyone else from wasting their time chasing the last two bad guys. Riardon began to loot the nearest corpses for both keys and coins. Leiya continued to open cells and cajole prisoners with sweet promises of freedom.
Jolrael began to open the northern most door along the east wall (finding a starage room), but he encouraged Enkili to see what the assassin had on him before that. The big man complied, knowing this slaver captain would have worthy loot….
*Here we leave our exhausted but victorious heroes until our next game. That will be on April 28th. We are all glad that the technical difficulties that has held us back for over two months are now in our rearview mirrors.
**Our shopping list: we now need 600 gold pieces worth of diamonds for our clerics, as well as a grapnel hook, and a crowbar.
***Here are the questions I want to pose the party:
Are these the last group of slaves in this facility or are there more pens further along?
We have more than doubled the number of dependents looking to us for rescue, we still have to discover a way out. Which way, to the Orc village or down the stairs the priest pair went? Or will we find another route behind the second door on the east wall?
If there are more slaves do we dare try to save them, or do we take what we have and retire? (I hate this question).
Reminder, we still have the Aspis to worry about. Are they quietly trying to open the ramp door from the sewer room, or are they collecting forces as they find another avenue to come at us?
Feel free to answer my questions or add to this list with your own questions, and as always please point out what I’ve missed or gotten wrong. You should also encourage me to embelish your characters parts in the narrative, we are all a lot more bad ass than I imply in this missive.
Highlights of Episode Eighty
Gurthos 8th CE 1031
Gurthos 8th CE 1031
Enkili fished out 3cp, 5sp, 3ep, 5gp, and a set of keys that did not fit any of the nearby cages from off the dead assassin. As he rifled the dead man’s pockets he asked a nearby slave if there where any more people being held elsewhere. To the fighter’s relief the prisoner indicated the way back to the slave pits. Blaylocke and Jolrael both explored the two unopened doors, each man discovered storage rooms a little larger than twenty by thirty feet in size. These two rooms held clothing, rations, manacles, chains, branding irons, various slaver sundries and several barrels of wine. Thirteen newly freed people joined the first nineteen, bringing the parties number of charges to thirty two.
For a brief time the party toyed with the idea of clogging up the stairs with the contents of the store rooms, but Grynn heard numerous gongs begin to sound deep down those stairs. The sound of yelling guards was not that far off. After relaying this news to the group, Blaylocke began to usher the prisoners back toward the sewer room collecting the first nineteen along the way. Jolrael had Grynn and Enkili hoist some wine barrels and spill them down the southern set of stairs, he then used Shape Water to freeze the wine, creating a slick and dangerous region for the enemy to traverse. Riardon and Leiya directed the prisoners to gather rations, clothing, and in some cases weapons from the fallen as they trickled out of the prison room; a few torches were also gathered up, lit, then spread out among the newly freed people.
Once on the platform of the slave pits, gongs and shouts could also be heard coming from the western tunnel. Leiya and Riardon discovered that seven of the original nineteen prisoners had panicked before their arrival and those seven had run down that passageway. The two heroes had to fight the panic the remaining twenty five had welling forth. Those gongs stole the hope the prisoners had so briefly felt. Those seven had surely been remanded to the custody of their merciless keepers, so the rogue and priestess were forced to forget about them in order to help those who remained. When Enkili, Grynn, and Jolly began making their way out of the jail room, they also brought word of having heard Aspis and Orc warriors from down the southern stairs. A bottleneck of scared people formed at the narrow hall leading to the sewer room, and they fought and clawed at each other preventing anyone from making their way to the dubious safety of the sewers.
Blaylocke, who was in the narrow corridor before the stairs to the sewer, had to force his way through the leading prisoners even as the panic spread to them. His voice was not heard at first. Even Leiya who had done so well getting the initial calm started was drowned out by the fear noise that spread like wildfire. The cacophany was such that Riardon’s finely honed senses could no longer monitor the western tunnel that led to the Orc camp; he had no way of knowing how close the enemy was. All of a sudden, on the steps leading down to the sewers the small drums of Blaylocke began to patter and dance with the clever rhythms of the Dwarven clans. His voice rose up in a song known along the shores of the Inland Sea.
The startling sound worked better than a slap to the face. Confounded prisoners turned their attention to the mad timing of the music, and without words they began to realize they had to trust the musician in this deadly time and place. Those in the narrow corridor began to hush those behind them as they themselves calmed. Their fear was still there, but they began to manage it much better. Jorael, Enkili, and Grynn joined Leiya and Riardon on the slave pit platform just as a line formed and their wards begin to hasten towards the sewer room and the music still pattering and tapping so enticingly.
Without the shouting of the former slaves to contend with, Grynn’s sharp hearing picked out guttural cries and barks down the western tunnel; the enemy was close. Too close. Being the last one out of the jail room, Enkili closed and locked the door behind him. Seeing the desert man’s efforts, Jolrael used water form his flask on the door knob. His Shape Water cantrip warped the wood around the latch, breaking the lock but also binding door to frame just as solidly as the lock had. The sorcerer took Quendi’s name in vain, as any sailor would have. Riardon, then Leiya began to force their way through the narrow passage; passing prisoners in order to position themselves to help the Bard.
Grynn also started down the narrow way. On the platform a bolt shattered near Enkili’s head. The Orcs could see him, but Enkili’s flaming quartz crystal set on his khula khud (helmet) did not allow him to see the snipers. Jolrael heard and heeded the desperation in the fighters voice when he was told to run, a tone the sorcerer was unused to hearing from the fighter. Hearing the litany of profanity Jolly was uttering, Riardon was able to determine that enemies were too close. He produced a Silent Image of the slain assassin posturing commandingly near the edge of the platform. Even though the Orcs or Halforc snipers were beyond the party’s light, arrows and bolts ceased to fly. Jolrael, Grynn, and Leiya continued forcing their way through the throng, but Riardon stopped, allowing the prisoners he had passed to resume their places beyond him.
Now near the head of the line in the sewer room, Blaylocke realized from the milling of the fastest former slaves who were in the nook beyond the sewers, that they had forgotten the ladder. Jolrael had fetched that climbing implement when they had been rescuing the folk in the slave pits. It had been a handy tool for that purpose, but it was now missing from its place where it would have allowed them to quickly ascend to the bug tunnels. Enkili could hear the thrumming of arbelest strings just as he began to back down the narrow passage. The illusion had not responded to queries offered in Orcish, but the delay the magic had caused had kept the fighter from injuries he could ill afford. Enkili was smeared with blood, his own and from enemies in equal measure.
Thinking furiously as he made his way to the nook beyond the sewer, Blaylocke realized that the table, barrels, and crates littering the area could be stacked to form a make shift climbing surface. The slaves rallied to his direction and begin to stack objects in a manner that would have distressed an engineer. From her position on the stairs to the circular sewer platform, Leiya noticed the work at the far end of the rooms. Her commands stopped the prisoners not in the nook to keep from pressing in, allowing some space so that work could be done. They began to line up for their turn to climb when the construction was complete.
From the middle of the stairs Grynn began to call upon his new deific mistress for aid, but if Melana answered, her manifestation lacked noticeable ostentation. Maybe subtlety was what she deemed best for that moment. Jolrael blew by the priest as he strove to cross the sewer platform. In bucket brigade fashion, the prisoners relayed their building materials up the ramshackle platform. Knowing the party needed more time, Riardon took upon himself a dangerous gambit. Casting Alter Self upon his person, he took on the visage and seeming of the Weevil Priestess. He pushed passed the fighter and stepped out on the slave pit platform.
With all the audacity in the world he called out to the Orc horde navigating across the slave pit cell tops. With the priestess’ voice he informed the slaver guards that the party was just a distraction from the main assault happening on the temple above. They were to desist in this assault and reinforce their cousins above. Muttering and complaining because the prey they had been after was so close, the Orcs and Halforcs from the camp turned about and began to comply with their beloved priestess. Judging the climbing platform tall enough, Blaylocke made the climb up finding the structure shaky and wobbly. Near the top a keg displaced as he reached for the bug tunnels ledge. This added bruises atop those Blaylocke had already earned. His fall made the former slaves re-stack the pinnacle of their creation. Those unable to help with construction lifted the bard back to his feet, their helping hands reaching out to gently clasp and pull the Dwarf upright.
Not wanting to leave Riardon alone on the platform behind him, Enkili forced himself to move to the doors at the top of the sewer room stairs. He knew the Elf was far faster than he was, but walking away felt like betrayal. However when arriving at those doors he realized the set of keys he had taken from the assassin might just be the keys to work the door’s lock. Jolrael got to the climbing platform just in time to help Blaylocke start his next climbing attempt, he followed closely after. Riardon, after dismissing one group of enemies, heard others barging their way into the jail room to the south. The room through which the real Weevil Priestess had fled. His disguise would not work with this new danger, so he spread caltrops in front of the door whose handle was already melting.
With the alacrity that was his, the Elf joined Enkili atop the stairs, using all of his movement to get there. Surprising the rogue, Enkili bear hugged him off his feet then carried him a few steps down the stairs before setting him gently down. The fighter then turned and closed the door while pulling the assassin’s key out of his pocket. Charging his new crossbow, Grynn covered his equally new friends at the top of the stair that could be turned into a slide. Leiya made her way to the climbing platform just as Blaylocke clambered up into the bug tunnels; a few seconds later Jolrael hoisted himself up til he was near the nadir of the shifting platform. Blaylocke found the Aspis tunnels quiet, and for a few moments he dared to feel hope.
Seeing Enkili about to lock the door to this room and Riardon preparing to tumble ball bearings on the upper steps, Grynn turned and made his way to the bottom of the climbing tower. After making the door fast, Enkili clanged down the steps which opened up Riardon’s opportunity to trap the stairs with steel marbles. The Elf breezed up to the short causeway leading to the nook. Hoping her gesture would speed up the extradition, Leiya had her rope chain passed up to Jolrael and Blaylocke. No one could figure out how to utilize the rope in any useful fashion. Knowing that he would only clog the tunnel with his mass, Blaylocke could not remain where he was to hand people up. So the Bard began to make his way back to the exit from this underground realm.
At first the silence encouraged him as he made his way back the way of the party’s original sojourn through the dirt tunnels. Then his ears caught distant “scratching” sounds the way he faced. Noises that were similar if not identical to the noises the Aspis made while moving and conversing. Alarmed the bard continued forward, creeping passed the tunnel branch they had used after leaving the crypt above. Desperately he studied the wooden supports used to hold the planks that themselves held back the packed dirt ceiling, he knew that he could not start a collapse this close to their exit. He would have to move around the corner and possibly face the bug men all on his own before he could implement his brazen plan.
Leiya founds her place in the queue to climb out, as Grynn urged folks to hurry the hell up. Without encouragement Riardon left Enkili and Grynn in the back of the pack to jockey for a better spot to get up and out; he placed himself behind Leiya. Facing the door that led to to the slave pit platform, Enkili sheathed his precious Sainted Sword and unlimbered his bow. With an arrow nocked, he faced to the rear at Grynn’s side. Both men resolute in what they might have to do if their enemy burst through those doors. Twice Jolrael reached for the lip of the bug crafted tunnel above, but the instability of the climbing platform thwarted the spell slinger. He was left clinging to a crate to keep from falling as Blaylocke had done, his face red at this failed attempt. The pressure of their predicament weighed like a cloak of lead with shoes of lodestone….
*Once again our heroes are faced with a difficult situation, and their window of time narrowing all too swiftly. Hopefully we can resolve this for good or ill May 12th.
**Our shopping list: we now need 600 gold pieces worth of diamonds for our clerics, as well as a grapnel hook, and a crowbar. Hopefully we won’t need any pine caskets.
P.S. I hope this ending is shaped well enough to fulfill R.C’s request. He knows what I mean.