01-04-2026, 06:18 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-16-2026, 12:02 PM by frenzied67.)
Addendums and corrections: Enkili had given Grynn and Blaylocke a potion of healing each, before the application of the Healing Kit.
Grynn had actually cast three Augury's. South was weal and woe, north was more weal than woe, and west was also more weal than woe.
Thank you, Tracy for doing the recap. Very sensible lay out.
After looting, the party gathered at the north door of the lab. Pulling the table away, they open the door and found themselves in a 15 foot wide hall. There were three doors along the north wall, and one to the south. The hall narrowed and turned south in the western end of the wide hall. All but the north west door was open. The south door opened on a dining hall with long tables and benches, below that was a door going to the kitchens. The north east door opened to a hall that headed east, then turned north. The six rooms they found were individual rooms for keep specialists. Blaylocke opened the north western door and discovered the odoriferous location of the latrines.
The first north east room has a desk, and a bed with satin sheets along the north wall. A bookshelf ran partially across the eastern wall. There was another desk along the south wall with alchemical ingredients and an emerald encrusted coffer sitting in the middle of the floor. This seemed to be the room of an alchemist. Some undecipherable papers were taken by the party, the bookshelf seemed to hold guides of the alchemist profession. A jeweled coffer turned out to be a glue trap which Enkili walked into. The fake coffer was glued to the ground and the fighter glued himself to the coffer trying to pick it up. Blaylocke and Leiya tried to read books and apply their effort to concocting an acidic based counter to the magic glue. Enkili took burn damage to his hand but was eventually freed, red faced and apologetic.
Blaylocke had determined that the papers Jolrael had taken had been the alchemist’s journals with the use of a ritually cast Comprehend Language spell. Missing books from the shelf and the riffled state of the bed indicated a hasty retreat. The room to the west held equipment and scale drawings that engineers use. Jolrael took a plumb line, a level, and the schematics for a siege tower and the pulley system for a secret door. Again there were signs of someone packing hurriedly and incompletely. The middle set of rooms were also for specialists of the fortress. The eastern room had been that of a scrivener. The desk in the middle of the room held writing supplies, enough to be a caligraphy kit, which Enkili bagged up and took. A scroll rack at the back of the room held the financial documents of the slavers; a treasure trove of customers, suppliers, routes, contacts, and caravan routs, etc. exposing the inner dealings of the slaver’s guild. These too were carted away.
The eastern room of the middle set had nothing interesting, it seemed to be the barracks for four guards, possibly body guards for some of the specialists that had displaced themselves so recently. The western room also seemed to be set up for a pair of guards, but the eastern room had ledgers and a stack of 300 gold coins. The party assumed the pay master had lived in this room, the ledger was taken just in case it would further illuminate the slavers enterprise.
Going back to the wide east to west hallway, the party took themselves up the middle hallway. The first three rooms alternated up the hall and had weird trophies nailed to each door, such as dog skulls and mule ears. These rooms had the odd musky smell given off by goblins. Taking the turn south from the thick hallway, they saw two doors along the west wall, and expected a door further south along the east wall; where they had seen a door to the kitchens they had briefly visited.
The first western door opened up on pens full of all sorts of people. Facing Enkili were two Hobgoblins with big swords and javelins, beyond the range of the fighter’s sight another Hobgoblin began barking orders. Always quick on his feet, Jolrael pushed up next to Enkili and fired off a Twinned Ray of Frost spell before he retreated back to his spot in the main hall. Both Hobgoblins were hurt by the spell, frost rhymed their limbs encumbering their movements. Though slowed the first Hobgoblin was still able to come to blows with Enkili, but his first greatsword stroke was interfered with by Leiya and her Shield of the Faithful feature. It missed it’s second attack on the fighter as well.
Barking mad laughter presaged the vision of a Gnoll pelting out of the darkness, it’s long legs carried it all the way to Enkili where it bit at him then tried to stab him twice with a rust pocked short sword. One cut of the short sword managed to hit the fighter. Through the bars to the south another Gnollish figured raced to the south eastern door, pushed through and started up the main hall trying to flank the party. The Gnoll is followed closely to another pair of Hobgoblins, one after the other. A javelin was hurled at Enkili to no effect, the failed Hobgoblin sniper closed in behind it’s friend and the Gnoll pressing Enkili.
Seeing two Hobgoblins and a Gnoll rushing up from the south, Blaylocke let fly with his bow hitting one of the Hobgoblins solidly; it continued advancing eyeing the bard with reprisal in it’s black heart. Now pressed by two Hobgoblins, Leiya targeted both with a Word of Radiance cantrip, the spell seared only one of the creatures though, just not enough to remove it as a threat. Targeting the Gnoll closest to himself, Enkili had to hack twice to drop the hyena headed monster, but this triggered the fighters Great Weapon Master feat. It required his last attack and his bonus action attack to drop the Hobgoblin souring the fighter’s air with its foul breath.
In the main hall, Jolrael beefed up his Tidal Wave spell before trying to catch the two Hobgoblins and Gnoll racing toward Leiya. Only one Hobgoblin caught the full brunt of the spell, but the liquid battery the three endured was not enough to drop any of them; the one Hobgoblin spit water while on it’s back. A fifth Hobgoblin appeared in the northern section of pens, it hurled an errant javelin at the fighter before it assumed the place of one of its dead companions. The Hobgoblin that had been knocked off its feet by the sorcerers watery spell stood up and stepped into the space next to Leiya. It tried to exact revenge on Jolrael, but Leiya interposed herself and gummed up the attack with her Shield of the Faithful feature.
It’s second attack actually was seen to bounce off of Jolrael’s mystical protections. The Gnoll in the hallway closed on Leiya and bit her, and one of it’s short sword attacks also drew her blood. Enkili dodged two sword strokes from the survivor of the first pair of Hobgoblins when it attacked. Blaylocke missed with his next arrow, trying to pin his first target a second time. Leiya took the brunt of one of two greatsword swings from the Hobgoblin facing her. Enkili critically wounded the original Hobgoblin attacking him, but it required a second hit to kill it. He delivered two blows on the new Hobgoblin, using Menacing Attack to frighten it. It cowered back still alive but hurt and frightened.
Bursting with divine light, Leiya tried another Word of Radiance, but all three of her targets absorbed the blast without taking any damage. Her Gnoll only hit with one stab attack, but missed the second as well as with it’s teeth. A Shield of the Faithful protected Jolrael against his Hobgoblin assailant, only fancy footwork saved him from the second sword swing. Hair and clothes lifting with the effect of his Tempestuous Magic feature, Jolrael flew backwards and set down out of the Hobgoblins reach, he then fired off an Aganazaar’s Scorcher which killed his Hobgoblin and the Gnoll both.
This set Leiya up for another attempt with her Word of Radiance, but again her lone attacker just shrugged off the damaging effects of the light. Again an arrow from Blaylocke flew wide, the bard snarled at his foul luck. Enkili’s last Hobgoblin had to be hit twice before it dropped, then the fighter moved to stand next to Leiya to face the last Hobgoblin. He missed it once but gave it a deep cut with his last bonus attack. Distraught over the new turn of events, the last Hobgoblin maneuvered out of the fight, and raced south passed the door it had come through.
Shouldering Leiya and Enkili aside, Jolrael moved by everyone and sent a frozen beam at the Hobgoblin. His Ray of Frost was enough to drop the last Hobgoblin.
Entering the room full of pens everyone in the party was hit by the responsibility of their actions, almost every race and gender were cooped up in cages. The two northernmost pens had several people who were still brain numbed by their time with the sting ray looking creature the party had defeated with the first 24 slaves. Those folk could walk if there was someone willing to lead them, but they were incapable of responding to their surroundings. The third cage to the north had a statue in a warding pose facing an opening in the wall, small mounds of soiled rags were piled at the feet of this statue; the same style of simple cotton garb the slaves wore.
Leiya took the keys but took a survey of the middle row of pens first. Blaylocke began to stroll around playing a soothing series of songs. Jolrael, Leiya, and Enkili began to ply the captives with questions. Slowly a picture began to form. The cage with the statue was a series of caverns where people had been taken for experimentation. Creatures call Cavelings also came from that passage and they were feared by the captives. Somewhere it was rumored that there was a passage to the Underdark, the half mythical caverns riddling the innards of Erath. What was troubling was what to do with the prisoners. They had children, teen girls, self absorbed individuals looking out for number one, a monk from Quan, Angierthan barbarians, tough looking men, a pregnant Elf, a battered Gnome, a Halforc, tied up Dwarves, and several folks in between. Okio Manamune (the monk from Quan) vowed to help the party if he were freed….
Enkili realized that they could not return to Nemsh with these people. They would be arrested, and the people returned to the slavers vile mercies. Here they were, spells all but used up, battered, and unsure if the slavers were regrouping or running for the hills. How were they to move so many people and where should they go. The Angierthan border was a few days away, but that would prove impossible if an army was set on their trail….
*Our next game will be Sunday, January 18th. Meanwhile everyone in the party should be brainstorming our next course of action, a thread will be available under Erath Miscellany under the heading "Spells...who Needs Spells".
*Correcting the record! It was just discovered that a lot of similarly sounding names have been cross connecting in the notes lately. Merketh is the Elven slave lord near Nemsh. Miria is the urchin Leiya took under her wing, who is now enslaved way up north in Onastia. Mierca is the missing, possibly dead, daughter of Lord Bercel Inagwy.
Feeling backed into a corner Leiya was forced to upcast a Sending spell to Lord Bercel. While she was talking to the distant noble, Enkili polled the captives if they knew of an alternate exit. They had no answer for the fighter. Leiya reported that they could seek help in a place one day to the north west of Nemsh. Buoyed by this good news, Enkili had the bright idea to scout south. He had hopes of finding another exit from the fort for fears of the garrison that may be remaining up above.
The first door they found was that tied to the kitchen they had found earlier. Just ten feet south of the eastern kitchen door was a short twenty foot long diagonal hallway ending in a door. Enkili listened and heard nothing, then Blaylocke also listened. The door happened to be locked, so they moved on. Around twenty feet further was a door in the eastern wall. Listening revealed no noise beyond, but when the knob was checked the handle turned. They entered the room and found it choked with blue smoke from a burning brazier and a large clutch of burning incense sticks.
Fearing the smoke to be another trap, Blaylocke and Enkili exited the room and closed the door. Continuing south they left the dressed stone and straight lined hallway for natural stone caverns. A branch to the east revealed a portcullis and the familiar smells of the Worg cavern they had visited before. As they passed this side hall a familiar voice floated from the south. “There they are!” Merketh announced, “You can have half my slaves if you take them alive”. Another woman’s voice said: “Agreed!” in an avaricious way.
Streaking out of the dark, a bolt shattered against the east wall near Enkili. Then a Drow woman in studded leather armor ran out of the dark. She was followed by a big wizened Goblin, who hurled a Firebolt at Enkili; fortunately the fighter jerked his head aside. Turning to run, Enkili shouted “If you really wish to surrender, then lay down your arms.” That message was ignored as the big man ran back north, where he found three Drow women creeping out of the room that had been locked in the slanted hallway. These three all fired diminutive crossbows at the fighter, but all three bolts failed to hit or penetrate his armor.
Hearing the commotion from the south, Grynn began to race around the horseshoe of cages for one of the two doors out. He cast Shield of Faith on himself as he ran. Akio Mesomune again declared his intent to aid the party, he flew out of the slave pen area and dashed up to Enkili’s side before the slanted hallway. About to turn and run himself, Blaylocke found that he was the target of a small flurry of missiles. He was able to power through the poison that the first two hits tried to inject into him; it was the third such bolt that hit that he could not shrug off. The good bard could not prevent his eyes from rolling shut, nor did he feel himself falling prone on the cold hard stone of the floor.
Again Merketh called out that she wanted the party taken alive. Before exiting the pens, Leiya encouraged the prisoners to join them in fighting their captors. She had to push herself just to get within visual range of Enkili’s and Akio’s fight with the Drow from the locked room. When a Drow appeared from the south Enkili’s heart fell, he had been hoping that Blaylocke would have been on his heels. The Drow tried something supernatural on Enkili, and for a moment the fighter felt the world quaking without actually moving. Shaking his cranium, he forced the feeling out of his head and continued dueling with his more immediate adversaries.
Grynn made it across the raised back area then mostly across the southern arm of the slaver pens. A lot of movement was heard in the south, another Drow moved up next to the female who had tried to ensorcell Enkili. Akio became a blur of motion, yet of his four attacks, he was only able to hit the lead Drow woman once. Another Drow pattered out of the darkness of the caverns. The trailing Drow woman in the slanted hall fired at Enkili, the fletching brushing the fighters helmet before the bolt shattered against the eastern wall.
Though no one could see it, Blaylocke was surrounded by Drow women. They began to bind the bard with slender but strong rope woven in the Underdark. Seeing a big cluster of Drow women coming up from the south, Jolrael hurled an Ice Storm over those he could see. He hoped there were others in the dark that his spell may also hit. Though he did not kill anyone, his spell did a lot of harm. Before he ducked back into the slave pens for cover, Jolrael was treated to Merketh’s new threat: “Three quarters of my slaves if you murder them all.”
The middle Drow in the slanted hall closed with Enkili and hit him once with a short sword. The fighter felt the sting of a life draining poison caused by the blade. One of the Angierthan men ran out of the pens, a slaver weapon brandished in his hand, his racing steps brought him close to Akio and Enkili. Focusing on the first Drow from the slanted hall, Enkili hit her all three times, the last blow a critical which triggered a feat he had. The Drow parried his bonus attack, though she was barely alive. Stepping south so she could see, Leiya cast a Healing Word on Enkili before she tried to burn the lead southern Drow with a Sacred Flame spell; the spell did not adhere and failed. The second Angierthan left the slave pens and charged towards the fight.
The last Drow in the slanted hall fired at Enkili again, once more the bolt narrowly missed. Popping out of the southern door of the slave pens, Grynn took a moment to size up the situation. He then slung a stone from his sling at a southern Drow and missed. He next upcast his Spiritual weapon and sent it south to hover over Akio; it’s attack failed to hit either of the pair sparring against Akio and Enkili. A Drow bolt slashed the arm of the first Angiethan, the poison hit so fast that the man hit the floor while still trying to run. The next to run out of the darkness, where dressed stone met natural stone, was Merketh. Though she shared features with her Drow kin, her pale skin was almost a mind skewing contrast to their dark pigmentation.
A smoldering orange bead flew from the slaver’s fingers and sailed to land well behind the sleeping Angierthan and her allies lead forces. The fireball that flared for so brief a moment scorched the party deeply, Grynn seemingly burned more than Enkili, Leiya, or anyone else who had been hit. The pain did revive the sleeping barbarian, bringing the first Angierthan out of his drugged slumber with a jolt of searing pain. Grimacing his fire screaming nerves out of immediate consideration, but still looking ragged and bloody, Enkili continued to focus on the first Drow in the slanted hall. She died with the first stroke of the Sainted Sword, so he used one of his tricks on the middle Drow. He made the tripped Drow look as bad off as he did while she was at his feetwhile using the remainder of his attacks. Then the fighter made the mistake of leaving his current victim so he could close with the last Drow in the slanted hall.
From her horizontal position, the downed Drow took an opportunity attack, her short sword pierced Enkili’s armor at the back of his knee. Near her mistress, the Goblin shaman hurled another Firebolt. It seared the wall near Akio’s head. At the juncture of the crooked hallway and the main hall, Akio became the target of one of those crazily small crossbows one of the southern Drow aimed his way. The man from Quan almost caught the bolt, but he did slow it so that it did not sink into him at its full potential. Standing up, almost as furious as one of the berserkers of his homeland, the first Angierthan closed with the foes his friend was fighting.
Walking fifteen feet closer to all the melee, Leiya managed to scoop up Merketh and three leather clad Drow inside a Wall of Force; plugging up the hallway and separating the bad guy’s forces from each other. The cleric’s brow furled as she thought about it, she might have caught a fifth person in her spell, but was not one hundred percent certain. She then marched fifteen feet back north, where she initiated a form of Telepathic contact with Grynn (I did not catch the spell or race/class feature she used, nor the message itself). No one knew what was happening with Blaylocke still, Enkili realizing he had messed up big in assuming Blaylocke would not have anyone attack him if he left.
Low on energy, Jolrael unwrapped the new sling from his head, set stone to catch, where he had it roaring with speed with a single rotation of a practiced wrist. The flying stone hummed by a Drow’s head and left a divot in the cavern wall beyond. Drow trapped on the far side of the Wall of Force were but far away voices with clattering noises that managed to convey that several Drow women were distraught at their predicament. A momentary look came into Akio’s eye viewing the Drow at his feet. It wasn’t emotion, it was calculation. He dropped knee first into the dark sylvan’s chest, she had distended eyes as her head jerked away from the ground.
His right hand stabbed down, the web of his hand encompassed her brow as he shoved savagely down still using the momentum of his drop; the back of the Drow’s head smacked the floor with enough force to have crumpled a helmet. Using her head as a fulcrum point, the monk used his own arm strength to throw his body back upright, a little flex from his toes was a spring that propelled him slightly off the ground. Akio stomped down in mid flight aiming his foot for the Elven featured head below, gravity and body weight now a weapon. The sound of heel fracturing bone startled everyone within hearing, causing a fraction of a second where everyone ceased moving for just that instant.
The Angierthans were side by side now, as they attacked the lead element of the southern arm of Drow (there was a lot of action around the corner that I did not catch, this narrater is assuming that hits and misses were exchanged). Striding down to where the slanted passage issued into the main hall, Grynn was able to hit all his injured friends with a Mass Cure Wounds spell. Jolrael wound up and slung a polished beach stone with his new sling again, this time he hit causing a Drow sniper to cry out in pain. Shouting voices and the mad clatter of activity showed that the separated Drow beyond the spell were getting themselves organised.
The last Drow female in the slanted hall dodged with manic determination, she avoided two out of three of Enkili’s heavy strokes. Face twisting with hate, the Drow hit by Jolrael had eyes aimed only at the sorcerer as she became the nucleus of a black bubble of Darkness. Too many of the party were effectively blinded. One of the Angierthans was loud as he staggered around in the inky sphere engulfing him. Backing up a little, Leiya used Thaumaturgy to close the southern most slave pen door. She then shouted for everyone to come up north out of the Darkness, using her voice as a beacon to guide the blind.
Akio strode out of the inky dark, then posed in a warding position ready to attack anyone unfriendly. Enkili’s enemy also popped into a cloud of stygian black. Angierthan two lead their friend out of the original Darkness spell, they also fanned out to meet any threat. Already daunted by the first Darkness spell, the second spell made Enkili head foreward as he faced west. He knew he would be out of the black sooner than heading north would have allowed, he also waited for any enemy to reveal themselves once through.
Grynn finally emerged into the northern hallway, almost triggering the barbarians into an attack. The cleric’s keen eyes weighed everyone, his pupils dialating at the sheer numbers of wounds he was witness to. Sounds of movement came from the dark, and distantly, from beyond the spell prisoning Merketh. Testing a theory, Jolrael cast a Light cantrip on one of his sling stones and cast it into the closest blob of shrouding black. The magic lived so briefly on the stone before negated entirely by the Drow made inkiness.
Leiya called out, warning everyone that they had to be ready to be flanked by the Drow, she suspected one of the doors hidden from view could be used to channel their enemies around from an unexpected side….
*That’s it for this weeks game. Our next episode of Living on the Edge will be January 25th. Maybe someone will come up with a salution to all their current dilemma’s by then. Our forum still has “Spells… Who Needs Spells” open in Erath Miscellany so you can add questions, theories, ideas to our discussions.
Still feeling like the situation was a trap, and the bodies inside the Wall of Force were illusory, Enkili did reluctantly get into position when Leiya stated she was bringing the spell down. He darted to the first Drow body and stabbed it in the throat, dismaying his comrades. Leiya and Grynn closed in and began studying the dead Drow, determining that the vials they had drank from had residual toxins in them. They also began to sift through their belongings. Enkili chopped off Merketh’s head, discovering odd facial scarring that hinted at cosmetic surgery. This dead Merketh was actually a fake body double. Again he earned sidelong looks even as he took his grim trophy and ran south, trying to find Blaylocke and Akio.
Leiya chose to take all the small hand crossbows the Drow had, mostly to keep anyone from using the poison darts from being used against us; this in addition to other treasure that had been carried. Enkili stumbled into a cavern with two exits, one west and one to the south east. There were three dead Drow between Enkili and Akio. South of Akio was a band of seven gray skinned, gnome like creatures that reminded Enkili of Lukoff the Wizard. Svirfneblin. They had a tied and poisoned Blaylocke in their midst. Evidently Akio had been trying to convince the Sverfneblin to release the bard. Arriving with the fake Merketh head held high put a strain on those negotiations.
The Sverfneblin had jumped the Drow who had been dragging Blaylocke away, then Akio had interfered with their own efforts of taking the Dwarf with them. What struck the fighter and monk immediately was the willingness for the deep Gnomes to make a deal. Enkili offered the magic halberd he was carrying, but that did not deeply interest the leader of the Sverfneblin. He told the fighter that it was a start. When Grynn and Leiya arrived, the tension grew one more time, but with assurances they were able to join Akio and Enkili. Grynn was wise enough to find out if the Sverfneblin were with or against the slavers, he was also able to read the Sverfneblin leader to discover the groups anxiety about the 'tunnel' they occasionally mentioned. Leiya was fed this information by Grynn, and whe was able to break through the posturing of the moment and deliver a bargaining point to the party. They also showed a contempt for the idea of owning sentient creatures, which proved they were not with the slavers.
Finally names were exchanged between the party and the Sverfneblin leader; his name was Skuer. Skuer finally ordered Blaylocke released, but he asked if the party and the able bodied prisoners would help them shore up their tunnel systems. They would be provided food and shelter, then a guide out if the heroes agreed to this deal. Almost hungrily, the party accepted, but stipulated that they needed to gather all the former slaves. They were given an hour to do this deed. Akio agreed to gather the prisoners who were in the lower slave pens, so that everyone else could return upstairs for the twenty two remaining brain dazed prisoners. Leiya, Enkili, and Blaylocke also raided the pantry that held all those rations, much of which was draped around the prisoner’s necks.
As Enkili was hoisting bodies down the ladder using a rope, a time consuming process, a hew and cry went up out in the corridors. The garrison. Leiya and Blaylocke locked and barred all the doors leading into the kitchen that Icor’s room adjoined. Those doors began to be battered as Enkili was lowering the last of the freed slaves. Blaylocke and Leiya went down next, Enkili followed and placed Icor’s bed back over the hatch. Fearing that they would still be chased they moved north through the lab and around to where the slave pens were.
Fortunately they did not hear any pursuit, and also they discovered that the resourceful Akio had already gathered the larger batch of prisoners and had lead them to the Sverfneblin. They got the rest of the prisoners to the Sverfneblin’s cavern with a few grains left in the hourglass. They are led a long way deeper into the earth to a Sverfneblin camp. They were given an off flavor stew of mystery meat and mushrooms, which would be their fare for a few days. What was even better, they were allowed a full night’s rest before they took turns helping the Sverfneblin work their tunnels. Though the agreement had been for one day of labor, Skuer asked if they could help one more day. No one had a problem with that, as that allowed a few of the dazed and fuddled former slaves time to recover.
Leiya had been keeping Lord Bercel appraised of their situation through Sending spells, but it wasn’t until they were gathering everyone together for the journey to the surface that they learned one of the freed women was Lord Bercel’s missing daughter (presumed dead); Delain Bercel. The girl had to be reassured that she would be welcomed back despite all the years of abuse and being traded hither and yon. It was night when they broke from the tunnels to the clear skies. Not wanting to be caught out in the open the party traveled at night, easily finding the landmark that led them to the sanctuary Lord Bercel had said would be theirs.
From there the party led their charges west until they crossed the borders of Bhel and Angiertha; they found themselves in Roloi territory. After a few days they came across their first Roloi settlement where they were greeted as heroes. Despite his dislike of drink, Enkili woke up with a hangover all the days they stayed. The dispersal of the freed people actually began. There were tribes folk from the Roloi, the Brunok, and the Wokari all of whom sought out their own clans. There were several other folk, homeless and kinless, who also decided to stay with the boisterous but welcoming Angierthans.
The next leg of their trip, the party led the mass of remaining charges to the south east through Wokari lands until they passed into the kingdom of Errod. All the Errodians among the freed people peeled off as they began the road north, most of that journey was by river ship. They then took ship from the port city of Tarskin (Errod) to Lur. Islanders from Lur and Yri departed on their own from there, but the remaining bulk of freed peoples joined the party on their ship cruise to The Freehold….
Time had passed, Blaylocke could feel that as his eyes began to flutter open. His guts still wrenched inside, and his eyes were still leaden, but sleep was no longer a bastion. What met his eyes made him remember the Sverfneblin they had met on their first adventure in The Freehold, but none of the gray faces he saw were Lukoff the Wizard. Their numbers were hard to count as his eyes still resisted focussing but they were less than a dozen. Though the sounds that came out of his mouth sounded like mush, Blaylocke did manage to get out some legible words. "Hey Lads, Care to help a guy out here?" Hard Sverfneblin eyes grew harder, and a few blood spattered individuals raised gore streaked weapons, and a rough boot stamped threateningly nearer his head.
They spoke among themselves, their language sounding familiar, but also too odd to understand. They seemed to be judging his fate, and he could tell that the prognosis was not going his way. The three dead Drow women laying nearby did not inspire the bard with hopeful thoughts either. To his surprise, the mob of Sverfneblin put their weapons away before they hoisted him up. For some reason he did not understand, Blaylocke felt that the south eastern cavern they aimed for was not the direction he wanted to go. Poison turned his protests into inarticulate mouth noises, which did not halt his tied up odessy.
Before they actually entered the area where the cavern narrowed into the tunnel he did not want to head into, the whole party of deep gnomes halted and turned about. A strange dark haired man with slanted eyes was now visible in the north, near the dead Drow. A short stare off happened, before the human raised empty hands and began a slow advance. Oh, that is that Human from Quan, Akio, Blaylocke finally realized. Akio called out asking for the bard to be turned over to him. Tension was rife which made the negotiations feel very tentative. Blaylocke began to add his two coppers to the discussion, and Akio and he did manage to get Sverfneblin hands off of half drawn weapons.
This made Blaylocke essay a song, his deep voice, however, rasped too much. The Drow poison still made his tongue a nigh brick behind his teeth. Still, despite his horrible delivery, some stern Sverfneblin faces lost menace and opened up in hope and delight. Heartened, Blaylocke tried again to make his captors more pliable. He stated that his other friends would offer compensation for his safe return. The leader's eyes took on a speculative look. Though the timing was off by several minutes, eventually the negotiations trickled to a halt when the repetative sound of steel on stone issued from the north. Enkili, with light issuing from his helmet, stepped into the cavern with Merketh's head held high in one hand and his big sword clutched in the other fist....
**The plan is to help the remainder of the now free men and women to their homes, or get those without a place to get employment or travel funds to the places they would like to establish themselves.
*Okay, we survived (wiping sweat from my brow). Our next tasks are papers and paychecks chores. Not only has the party leveled up, but they must make Bastion choices for at least 6 weeks of time; encompassing travel time, and then training time. All this training and Bastion choices are to be done in the forum, we should do all that under Level-Up Information.
*** Here is a URL that has the Bastion Rules... I think. If that does not work, I have been advised that 5E tools (2024) has the DMG where the bastion rules are contained.
http://dnd2024.wikidot.com/bastions#Pub
*This week (February 8th) was given to papers and paychecks, where we leveled up our characters and managed our bastions for the nigh 2 months of downtime. At 13th level all our characters also gained a new bastion facility which we had to choose. That is also the reason that this synopsis is so very brief.
Though Delain Bercel was hesitant at the reunion, Lord Bercel was overjoyed. His daughter had been thought dead and was not. Her hesitation stemmed from going through puberty while being owned by an assortment of masters, some of whom were more vile than others. Delain’s defenses could not stand in the face of her father’s love, and she realized that this was the time to heal. On the ship to The Freehold from the island of Lur, one of the liberated prisoners revealed that they were more important than first assumed.
It turned out that the missing prince of Brandt had been hiding among the prisoners. He had remained silent until certain that the party had been forthright in their claims to return everyone to their home, or find them homes if they had none. Thus when the party arrived at The Freehold their attention was consumed with the fanfare of the Brandti consulate. Each party member was granted a special medallion that gave them ambassadorial powers within Brandt, with a guaranteed parley with the king of Brandt himself.
These deeds were spread far and wide, faster than a grass fire in high winds. This helped Blaylocke out immensely as his first theatrical show was unveiled to the public. “The Folly of Frodendahl” has been showing as much as three times a day for several weeks, and the public seems eager for it to remain….
*Told you it was brief. Our next game will be February 15th, where we will have our characters clean up their inventories and take care of business, such as identifying items, and selling others. We also must go over the papers taken from the slaver stockade with our allies and flesh out our knowledge of the slaver networks. The proposal to head to Onastia, way up north, was advanced again. Maybe Miriel the urchin can be freed.
*This is another short episode. We had to go over 6 weeks of intelligence and information generated by our bastion facilities. We are still going to bring our finding to Lord Bercel, then we have to figure out our next steps.
Blaylocke’s people brought him information on how Wizard's Peak had come into existance. 1) Wizard’s Peak came into being during the First Devastation, when the Crown of Worlds was sundered. 2) The Crown of World’s destruction caused dimensional tears in Erath’s reality. This created gateways to other worlds, the nexus of which is the Hall of Worlds within Wizard’s Peak, where many of them converge. 3) Some of these gateways in the Hall of Worlds lead to regions internal and external to Erath. This seems to indicate that some of these rifts allows travel to locations on and under the surface of Erath.
The bard also uncovered some more findings about The Sainted Sword. 1)The Sainted Sword was birthed under the sands of the Forbidden Pass. This was where legend says the Mandagan people migrated from or through, though no travel now occurs through this fearsome region. 2) ...With the coin made from a stone, a song stolen from dirt, and a knife from under the hills, Malaq wove his most powerful spells into the sword…. This little riddle was decyphered. The coin made of stone refers to the blood of a Dao (earth based Djini), the song was a Dao tongue, and the blade from under the hills indicate the bones of a Dao were used in The Sainted Sword’s creation. Malaq had intended the blade to kill it’s user, but these features were stripped away when Malaq’s curse was broken.
3) This is a bit of prophesy that has Enkili stymied. “Peace will be known to it’s realm when The Sainted Sword returns to it’s forge.
This next bit of lore is about the Vast, some suspicions were confirmed. 1) Writings indicate that The Vast is sentient and seeks to keep the unwary and lost who enter it. 2) The Entry into The Vast is hidden inside the Temple of Tarthil. We had assumed that the Gnarl held the entrance, but that had been a false lead. 3) Based off a snippet of earlier gleaned lore, it has been determined that lodestone is used as a currency by those who live in The Vast. Quarrying or prospecting for lodestone may hold many dangers.
Our bastion workers also found out some information on ancient Tarthil. 1)Tarthil suffered corruption from the sundering of The Crown of Worlds. It has a ‘shadow contagion’ from long term exposure to the immediate area. 2) Tarthil’s corruption is not connected to the Realm of Shadows (the negative material plane), but has an “otherness” nature. 3)Tarthil had at one time been a major hub of commerce in the ancient Seldarrin kingdom.
*This is all that is new. Our next game will be February 22nd. Below is a list of the NPC’s who make the party’s bastion facilities work.
**Blaylocke has Arhtfro Treca, a human male, as his archivist.
Agriman Forthe, Human male, Librarian.
Brin Brightforge and Frin Brightforge, both Dwarven males, run the smithy.
Bertregrand Varner, Human male, is Blaylocke’s trader from the storehouse.
Ceaht Ditter, Human Male, directs in the Theater. Troch Sorange, Human male, actor; Eahr Volance, Human male, actor; Reyla Paimbert, Human female, actor.
***Jolrael has Jesett Crafter, Human Male, as his artificer.
Gratal Skurna, Human female, tends his garden with Meljn Mamagum, Gnome male, also a gardener.
Glermad Neezle, Gnome male, is an alchemist.
Glurkad Ironwrought, Dwarf male; Una Glittering, Gnome female; Morynel Isandre, Elf, male, Saengwig Wirhard, Human male; and Dales Narthwip, Human male, are all the people the sorcerer employs as artisans
****Here are Leiya’s employees.
Ever Hos and Esoard Hos (twins), Human males, work as gardeners.
Cam of Whold, Human male, works her greenhouse.
Priestess Cassia Lordliss, Human female, is the custodian of the reliquary.
Priest Hin Leydley, Human male, fronts the sacristy.
Priestess Moir Eadaen, Human female, caretaker of the sanctuary.
*****The people answering to Grynn are-
Priestess Atalina Kvetoslava, Human female (Onostian), holds the sacristy.
Priestess Kisenda Veryth, Human female, wards the sanctuary.
Hladis, Human male (freed slave), acts as his scribe.
Daymin Leske, Human male, is caretaker of the teleportation circle.
******Enkili’s employees are-
Fislin Laek, Human male, quartermaster.
Ballard “Longsnake” Fiske, Human male, recruiter.
Cailli, Human female, is the current expert trainer. Grecourt, Human male; Mallers, Human male; Ossart, Human male, are the assistant trainers.
Siathine Baeran, Human female, is the bartender at The Wayward Sword tavern. The tavern is about to be expanded.
This is a list of the bastion defenders, housed in Enkili’s barracks- Edien, Gedway, Foundet, Hembaut, Gauvanë, Hadien, Rollart, Inard, Habsin, Anard, Melairë, Espadon, Mairset, Batin, Ronnas, Ynë, Raherë, Gorbelon, Chassanot, Engudë, Havin, Rolart, Runnier, Jumin
Grynn had actually cast three Augury's. South was weal and woe, north was more weal than woe, and west was also more weal than woe.
Thank you, Tracy for doing the recap. Very sensible lay out.
EP 129 18th - 19th Drindos C.E. 1032
After looting, the party gathered at the north door of the lab. Pulling the table away, they open the door and found themselves in a 15 foot wide hall. There were three doors along the north wall, and one to the south. The hall narrowed and turned south in the western end of the wide hall. All but the north west door was open. The south door opened on a dining hall with long tables and benches, below that was a door going to the kitchens. The north east door opened to a hall that headed east, then turned north. The six rooms they found were individual rooms for keep specialists. Blaylocke opened the north western door and discovered the odoriferous location of the latrines.
The first north east room has a desk, and a bed with satin sheets along the north wall. A bookshelf ran partially across the eastern wall. There was another desk along the south wall with alchemical ingredients and an emerald encrusted coffer sitting in the middle of the floor. This seemed to be the room of an alchemist. Some undecipherable papers were taken by the party, the bookshelf seemed to hold guides of the alchemist profession. A jeweled coffer turned out to be a glue trap which Enkili walked into. The fake coffer was glued to the ground and the fighter glued himself to the coffer trying to pick it up. Blaylocke and Leiya tried to read books and apply their effort to concocting an acidic based counter to the magic glue. Enkili took burn damage to his hand but was eventually freed, red faced and apologetic.
Blaylocke had determined that the papers Jolrael had taken had been the alchemist’s journals with the use of a ritually cast Comprehend Language spell. Missing books from the shelf and the riffled state of the bed indicated a hasty retreat. The room to the west held equipment and scale drawings that engineers use. Jolrael took a plumb line, a level, and the schematics for a siege tower and the pulley system for a secret door. Again there were signs of someone packing hurriedly and incompletely. The middle set of rooms were also for specialists of the fortress. The eastern room had been that of a scrivener. The desk in the middle of the room held writing supplies, enough to be a caligraphy kit, which Enkili bagged up and took. A scroll rack at the back of the room held the financial documents of the slavers; a treasure trove of customers, suppliers, routes, contacts, and caravan routs, etc. exposing the inner dealings of the slaver’s guild. These too were carted away.
The eastern room of the middle set had nothing interesting, it seemed to be the barracks for four guards, possibly body guards for some of the specialists that had displaced themselves so recently. The western room also seemed to be set up for a pair of guards, but the eastern room had ledgers and a stack of 300 gold coins. The party assumed the pay master had lived in this room, the ledger was taken just in case it would further illuminate the slavers enterprise.
Going back to the wide east to west hallway, the party took themselves up the middle hallway. The first three rooms alternated up the hall and had weird trophies nailed to each door, such as dog skulls and mule ears. These rooms had the odd musky smell given off by goblins. Taking the turn south from the thick hallway, they saw two doors along the west wall, and expected a door further south along the east wall; where they had seen a door to the kitchens they had briefly visited.
The first western door opened up on pens full of all sorts of people. Facing Enkili were two Hobgoblins with big swords and javelins, beyond the range of the fighter’s sight another Hobgoblin began barking orders. Always quick on his feet, Jolrael pushed up next to Enkili and fired off a Twinned Ray of Frost spell before he retreated back to his spot in the main hall. Both Hobgoblins were hurt by the spell, frost rhymed their limbs encumbering their movements. Though slowed the first Hobgoblin was still able to come to blows with Enkili, but his first greatsword stroke was interfered with by Leiya and her Shield of the Faithful feature. It missed it’s second attack on the fighter as well.
Barking mad laughter presaged the vision of a Gnoll pelting out of the darkness, it’s long legs carried it all the way to Enkili where it bit at him then tried to stab him twice with a rust pocked short sword. One cut of the short sword managed to hit the fighter. Through the bars to the south another Gnollish figured raced to the south eastern door, pushed through and started up the main hall trying to flank the party. The Gnoll is followed closely to another pair of Hobgoblins, one after the other. A javelin was hurled at Enkili to no effect, the failed Hobgoblin sniper closed in behind it’s friend and the Gnoll pressing Enkili.
Seeing two Hobgoblins and a Gnoll rushing up from the south, Blaylocke let fly with his bow hitting one of the Hobgoblins solidly; it continued advancing eyeing the bard with reprisal in it’s black heart. Now pressed by two Hobgoblins, Leiya targeted both with a Word of Radiance cantrip, the spell seared only one of the creatures though, just not enough to remove it as a threat. Targeting the Gnoll closest to himself, Enkili had to hack twice to drop the hyena headed monster, but this triggered the fighters Great Weapon Master feat. It required his last attack and his bonus action attack to drop the Hobgoblin souring the fighter’s air with its foul breath.
In the main hall, Jolrael beefed up his Tidal Wave spell before trying to catch the two Hobgoblins and Gnoll racing toward Leiya. Only one Hobgoblin caught the full brunt of the spell, but the liquid battery the three endured was not enough to drop any of them; the one Hobgoblin spit water while on it’s back. A fifth Hobgoblin appeared in the northern section of pens, it hurled an errant javelin at the fighter before it assumed the place of one of its dead companions. The Hobgoblin that had been knocked off its feet by the sorcerers watery spell stood up and stepped into the space next to Leiya. It tried to exact revenge on Jolrael, but Leiya interposed herself and gummed up the attack with her Shield of the Faithful feature.
It’s second attack actually was seen to bounce off of Jolrael’s mystical protections. The Gnoll in the hallway closed on Leiya and bit her, and one of it’s short sword attacks also drew her blood. Enkili dodged two sword strokes from the survivor of the first pair of Hobgoblins when it attacked. Blaylocke missed with his next arrow, trying to pin his first target a second time. Leiya took the brunt of one of two greatsword swings from the Hobgoblin facing her. Enkili critically wounded the original Hobgoblin attacking him, but it required a second hit to kill it. He delivered two blows on the new Hobgoblin, using Menacing Attack to frighten it. It cowered back still alive but hurt and frightened.
Bursting with divine light, Leiya tried another Word of Radiance, but all three of her targets absorbed the blast without taking any damage. Her Gnoll only hit with one stab attack, but missed the second as well as with it’s teeth. A Shield of the Faithful protected Jolrael against his Hobgoblin assailant, only fancy footwork saved him from the second sword swing. Hair and clothes lifting with the effect of his Tempestuous Magic feature, Jolrael flew backwards and set down out of the Hobgoblins reach, he then fired off an Aganazaar’s Scorcher which killed his Hobgoblin and the Gnoll both.
This set Leiya up for another attempt with her Word of Radiance, but again her lone attacker just shrugged off the damaging effects of the light. Again an arrow from Blaylocke flew wide, the bard snarled at his foul luck. Enkili’s last Hobgoblin had to be hit twice before it dropped, then the fighter moved to stand next to Leiya to face the last Hobgoblin. He missed it once but gave it a deep cut with his last bonus attack. Distraught over the new turn of events, the last Hobgoblin maneuvered out of the fight, and raced south passed the door it had come through.
Shouldering Leiya and Enkili aside, Jolrael moved by everyone and sent a frozen beam at the Hobgoblin. His Ray of Frost was enough to drop the last Hobgoblin.
Entering the room full of pens everyone in the party was hit by the responsibility of their actions, almost every race and gender were cooped up in cages. The two northernmost pens had several people who were still brain numbed by their time with the sting ray looking creature the party had defeated with the first 24 slaves. Those folk could walk if there was someone willing to lead them, but they were incapable of responding to their surroundings. The third cage to the north had a statue in a warding pose facing an opening in the wall, small mounds of soiled rags were piled at the feet of this statue; the same style of simple cotton garb the slaves wore.
Leiya took the keys but took a survey of the middle row of pens first. Blaylocke began to stroll around playing a soothing series of songs. Jolrael, Leiya, and Enkili began to ply the captives with questions. Slowly a picture began to form. The cage with the statue was a series of caverns where people had been taken for experimentation. Creatures call Cavelings also came from that passage and they were feared by the captives. Somewhere it was rumored that there was a passage to the Underdark, the half mythical caverns riddling the innards of Erath. What was troubling was what to do with the prisoners. They had children, teen girls, self absorbed individuals looking out for number one, a monk from Quan, Angierthan barbarians, tough looking men, a pregnant Elf, a battered Gnome, a Halforc, tied up Dwarves, and several folks in between. Okio Manamune (the monk from Quan) vowed to help the party if he were freed….
Enkili realized that they could not return to Nemsh with these people. They would be arrested, and the people returned to the slavers vile mercies. Here they were, spells all but used up, battered, and unsure if the slavers were regrouping or running for the hills. How were they to move so many people and where should they go. The Angierthan border was a few days away, but that would prove impossible if an army was set on their trail….
*Our next game will be Sunday, January 18th. Meanwhile everyone in the party should be brainstorming our next course of action, a thread will be available under Erath Miscellany under the heading "Spells...who Needs Spells".
EP 130 18th - 19th Drindos C.E. 1032
*Correcting the record! It was just discovered that a lot of similarly sounding names have been cross connecting in the notes lately. Merketh is the Elven slave lord near Nemsh. Miria is the urchin Leiya took under her wing, who is now enslaved way up north in Onastia. Mierca is the missing, possibly dead, daughter of Lord Bercel Inagwy.
Feeling backed into a corner Leiya was forced to upcast a Sending spell to Lord Bercel. While she was talking to the distant noble, Enkili polled the captives if they knew of an alternate exit. They had no answer for the fighter. Leiya reported that they could seek help in a place one day to the north west of Nemsh. Buoyed by this good news, Enkili had the bright idea to scout south. He had hopes of finding another exit from the fort for fears of the garrison that may be remaining up above.
The first door they found was that tied to the kitchen they had found earlier. Just ten feet south of the eastern kitchen door was a short twenty foot long diagonal hallway ending in a door. Enkili listened and heard nothing, then Blaylocke also listened. The door happened to be locked, so they moved on. Around twenty feet further was a door in the eastern wall. Listening revealed no noise beyond, but when the knob was checked the handle turned. They entered the room and found it choked with blue smoke from a burning brazier and a large clutch of burning incense sticks.
Fearing the smoke to be another trap, Blaylocke and Enkili exited the room and closed the door. Continuing south they left the dressed stone and straight lined hallway for natural stone caverns. A branch to the east revealed a portcullis and the familiar smells of the Worg cavern they had visited before. As they passed this side hall a familiar voice floated from the south. “There they are!” Merketh announced, “You can have half my slaves if you take them alive”. Another woman’s voice said: “Agreed!” in an avaricious way.
Streaking out of the dark, a bolt shattered against the east wall near Enkili. Then a Drow woman in studded leather armor ran out of the dark. She was followed by a big wizened Goblin, who hurled a Firebolt at Enkili; fortunately the fighter jerked his head aside. Turning to run, Enkili shouted “If you really wish to surrender, then lay down your arms.” That message was ignored as the big man ran back north, where he found three Drow women creeping out of the room that had been locked in the slanted hallway. These three all fired diminutive crossbows at the fighter, but all three bolts failed to hit or penetrate his armor.
Hearing the commotion from the south, Grynn began to race around the horseshoe of cages for one of the two doors out. He cast Shield of Faith on himself as he ran. Akio Mesomune again declared his intent to aid the party, he flew out of the slave pen area and dashed up to Enkili’s side before the slanted hallway. About to turn and run himself, Blaylocke found that he was the target of a small flurry of missiles. He was able to power through the poison that the first two hits tried to inject into him; it was the third such bolt that hit that he could not shrug off. The good bard could not prevent his eyes from rolling shut, nor did he feel himself falling prone on the cold hard stone of the floor.
Again Merketh called out that she wanted the party taken alive. Before exiting the pens, Leiya encouraged the prisoners to join them in fighting their captors. She had to push herself just to get within visual range of Enkili’s and Akio’s fight with the Drow from the locked room. When a Drow appeared from the south Enkili’s heart fell, he had been hoping that Blaylocke would have been on his heels. The Drow tried something supernatural on Enkili, and for a moment the fighter felt the world quaking without actually moving. Shaking his cranium, he forced the feeling out of his head and continued dueling with his more immediate adversaries.
Grynn made it across the raised back area then mostly across the southern arm of the slaver pens. A lot of movement was heard in the south, another Drow moved up next to the female who had tried to ensorcell Enkili. Akio became a blur of motion, yet of his four attacks, he was only able to hit the lead Drow woman once. Another Drow pattered out of the darkness of the caverns. The trailing Drow woman in the slanted hall fired at Enkili, the fletching brushing the fighters helmet before the bolt shattered against the eastern wall.
Though no one could see it, Blaylocke was surrounded by Drow women. They began to bind the bard with slender but strong rope woven in the Underdark. Seeing a big cluster of Drow women coming up from the south, Jolrael hurled an Ice Storm over those he could see. He hoped there were others in the dark that his spell may also hit. Though he did not kill anyone, his spell did a lot of harm. Before he ducked back into the slave pens for cover, Jolrael was treated to Merketh’s new threat: “Three quarters of my slaves if you murder them all.”
The middle Drow in the slanted hall closed with Enkili and hit him once with a short sword. The fighter felt the sting of a life draining poison caused by the blade. One of the Angierthan men ran out of the pens, a slaver weapon brandished in his hand, his racing steps brought him close to Akio and Enkili. Focusing on the first Drow from the slanted hall, Enkili hit her all three times, the last blow a critical which triggered a feat he had. The Drow parried his bonus attack, though she was barely alive. Stepping south so she could see, Leiya cast a Healing Word on Enkili before she tried to burn the lead southern Drow with a Sacred Flame spell; the spell did not adhere and failed. The second Angierthan left the slave pens and charged towards the fight.
The last Drow in the slanted hall fired at Enkili again, once more the bolt narrowly missed. Popping out of the southern door of the slave pens, Grynn took a moment to size up the situation. He then slung a stone from his sling at a southern Drow and missed. He next upcast his Spiritual weapon and sent it south to hover over Akio; it’s attack failed to hit either of the pair sparring against Akio and Enkili. A Drow bolt slashed the arm of the first Angiethan, the poison hit so fast that the man hit the floor while still trying to run. The next to run out of the darkness, where dressed stone met natural stone, was Merketh. Though she shared features with her Drow kin, her pale skin was almost a mind skewing contrast to their dark pigmentation.
A smoldering orange bead flew from the slaver’s fingers and sailed to land well behind the sleeping Angierthan and her allies lead forces. The fireball that flared for so brief a moment scorched the party deeply, Grynn seemingly burned more than Enkili, Leiya, or anyone else who had been hit. The pain did revive the sleeping barbarian, bringing the first Angierthan out of his drugged slumber with a jolt of searing pain. Grimacing his fire screaming nerves out of immediate consideration, but still looking ragged and bloody, Enkili continued to focus on the first Drow in the slanted hall. She died with the first stroke of the Sainted Sword, so he used one of his tricks on the middle Drow. He made the tripped Drow look as bad off as he did while she was at his feetwhile using the remainder of his attacks. Then the fighter made the mistake of leaving his current victim so he could close with the last Drow in the slanted hall.
From her horizontal position, the downed Drow took an opportunity attack, her short sword pierced Enkili’s armor at the back of his knee. Near her mistress, the Goblin shaman hurled another Firebolt. It seared the wall near Akio’s head. At the juncture of the crooked hallway and the main hall, Akio became the target of one of those crazily small crossbows one of the southern Drow aimed his way. The man from Quan almost caught the bolt, but he did slow it so that it did not sink into him at its full potential. Standing up, almost as furious as one of the berserkers of his homeland, the first Angierthan closed with the foes his friend was fighting.
Walking fifteen feet closer to all the melee, Leiya managed to scoop up Merketh and three leather clad Drow inside a Wall of Force; plugging up the hallway and separating the bad guy’s forces from each other. The cleric’s brow furled as she thought about it, she might have caught a fifth person in her spell, but was not one hundred percent certain. She then marched fifteen feet back north, where she initiated a form of Telepathic contact with Grynn (I did not catch the spell or race/class feature she used, nor the message itself). No one knew what was happening with Blaylocke still, Enkili realizing he had messed up big in assuming Blaylocke would not have anyone attack him if he left.
Low on energy, Jolrael unwrapped the new sling from his head, set stone to catch, where he had it roaring with speed with a single rotation of a practiced wrist. The flying stone hummed by a Drow’s head and left a divot in the cavern wall beyond. Drow trapped on the far side of the Wall of Force were but far away voices with clattering noises that managed to convey that several Drow women were distraught at their predicament. A momentary look came into Akio’s eye viewing the Drow at his feet. It wasn’t emotion, it was calculation. He dropped knee first into the dark sylvan’s chest, she had distended eyes as her head jerked away from the ground.
His right hand stabbed down, the web of his hand encompassed her brow as he shoved savagely down still using the momentum of his drop; the back of the Drow’s head smacked the floor with enough force to have crumpled a helmet. Using her head as a fulcrum point, the monk used his own arm strength to throw his body back upright, a little flex from his toes was a spring that propelled him slightly off the ground. Akio stomped down in mid flight aiming his foot for the Elven featured head below, gravity and body weight now a weapon. The sound of heel fracturing bone startled everyone within hearing, causing a fraction of a second where everyone ceased moving for just that instant.
The Angierthans were side by side now, as they attacked the lead element of the southern arm of Drow (there was a lot of action around the corner that I did not catch, this narrater is assuming that hits and misses were exchanged). Striding down to where the slanted passage issued into the main hall, Grynn was able to hit all his injured friends with a Mass Cure Wounds spell. Jolrael wound up and slung a polished beach stone with his new sling again, this time he hit causing a Drow sniper to cry out in pain. Shouting voices and the mad clatter of activity showed that the separated Drow beyond the spell were getting themselves organised.
The last Drow female in the slanted hall dodged with manic determination, she avoided two out of three of Enkili’s heavy strokes. Face twisting with hate, the Drow hit by Jolrael had eyes aimed only at the sorcerer as she became the nucleus of a black bubble of Darkness. Too many of the party were effectively blinded. One of the Angierthans was loud as he staggered around in the inky sphere engulfing him. Backing up a little, Leiya used Thaumaturgy to close the southern most slave pen door. She then shouted for everyone to come up north out of the Darkness, using her voice as a beacon to guide the blind.
Akio strode out of the inky dark, then posed in a warding position ready to attack anyone unfriendly. Enkili’s enemy also popped into a cloud of stygian black. Angierthan two lead their friend out of the original Darkness spell, they also fanned out to meet any threat. Already daunted by the first Darkness spell, the second spell made Enkili head foreward as he faced west. He knew he would be out of the black sooner than heading north would have allowed, he also waited for any enemy to reveal themselves once through.
Grynn finally emerged into the northern hallway, almost triggering the barbarians into an attack. The cleric’s keen eyes weighed everyone, his pupils dialating at the sheer numbers of wounds he was witness to. Sounds of movement came from the dark, and distantly, from beyond the spell prisoning Merketh. Testing a theory, Jolrael cast a Light cantrip on one of his sling stones and cast it into the closest blob of shrouding black. The magic lived so briefly on the stone before negated entirely by the Drow made inkiness.
Leiya called out, warning everyone that they had to be ready to be flanked by the Drow, she suspected one of the doors hidden from view could be used to channel their enemies around from an unexpected side….
*That’s it for this weeks game. Our next episode of Living on the Edge will be January 25th. Maybe someone will come up with a salution to all their current dilemma’s by then. Our forum still has “Spells… Who Needs Spells” open in Erath Miscellany so you can add questions, theories, ideas to our discussions.
EP 132 19th Drindos - 20th of Kemen C.E. 1032
Still feeling like the situation was a trap, and the bodies inside the Wall of Force were illusory, Enkili did reluctantly get into position when Leiya stated she was bringing the spell down. He darted to the first Drow body and stabbed it in the throat, dismaying his comrades. Leiya and Grynn closed in and began studying the dead Drow, determining that the vials they had drank from had residual toxins in them. They also began to sift through their belongings. Enkili chopped off Merketh’s head, discovering odd facial scarring that hinted at cosmetic surgery. This dead Merketh was actually a fake body double. Again he earned sidelong looks even as he took his grim trophy and ran south, trying to find Blaylocke and Akio.
Leiya chose to take all the small hand crossbows the Drow had, mostly to keep anyone from using the poison darts from being used against us; this in addition to other treasure that had been carried. Enkili stumbled into a cavern with two exits, one west and one to the south east. There were three dead Drow between Enkili and Akio. South of Akio was a band of seven gray skinned, gnome like creatures that reminded Enkili of Lukoff the Wizard. Svirfneblin. They had a tied and poisoned Blaylocke in their midst. Evidently Akio had been trying to convince the Sverfneblin to release the bard. Arriving with the fake Merketh head held high put a strain on those negotiations.
The Sverfneblin had jumped the Drow who had been dragging Blaylocke away, then Akio had interfered with their own efforts of taking the Dwarf with them. What struck the fighter and monk immediately was the willingness for the deep Gnomes to make a deal. Enkili offered the magic halberd he was carrying, but that did not deeply interest the leader of the Sverfneblin. He told the fighter that it was a start. When Grynn and Leiya arrived, the tension grew one more time, but with assurances they were able to join Akio and Enkili. Grynn was wise enough to find out if the Sverfneblin were with or against the slavers, he was also able to read the Sverfneblin leader to discover the groups anxiety about the 'tunnel' they occasionally mentioned. Leiya was fed this information by Grynn, and whe was able to break through the posturing of the moment and deliver a bargaining point to the party. They also showed a contempt for the idea of owning sentient creatures, which proved they were not with the slavers.
Finally names were exchanged between the party and the Sverfneblin leader; his name was Skuer. Skuer finally ordered Blaylocke released, but he asked if the party and the able bodied prisoners would help them shore up their tunnel systems. They would be provided food and shelter, then a guide out if the heroes agreed to this deal. Almost hungrily, the party accepted, but stipulated that they needed to gather all the former slaves. They were given an hour to do this deed. Akio agreed to gather the prisoners who were in the lower slave pens, so that everyone else could return upstairs for the twenty two remaining brain dazed prisoners. Leiya, Enkili, and Blaylocke also raided the pantry that held all those rations, much of which was draped around the prisoner’s necks.
As Enkili was hoisting bodies down the ladder using a rope, a time consuming process, a hew and cry went up out in the corridors. The garrison. Leiya and Blaylocke locked and barred all the doors leading into the kitchen that Icor’s room adjoined. Those doors began to be battered as Enkili was lowering the last of the freed slaves. Blaylocke and Leiya went down next, Enkili followed and placed Icor’s bed back over the hatch. Fearing that they would still be chased they moved north through the lab and around to where the slave pens were.
Fortunately they did not hear any pursuit, and also they discovered that the resourceful Akio had already gathered the larger batch of prisoners and had lead them to the Sverfneblin. They got the rest of the prisoners to the Sverfneblin’s cavern with a few grains left in the hourglass. They are led a long way deeper into the earth to a Sverfneblin camp. They were given an off flavor stew of mystery meat and mushrooms, which would be their fare for a few days. What was even better, they were allowed a full night’s rest before they took turns helping the Sverfneblin work their tunnels. Though the agreement had been for one day of labor, Skuer asked if they could help one more day. No one had a problem with that, as that allowed a few of the dazed and fuddled former slaves time to recover.
Leiya had been keeping Lord Bercel appraised of their situation through Sending spells, but it wasn’t until they were gathering everyone together for the journey to the surface that they learned one of the freed women was Lord Bercel’s missing daughter (presumed dead); Delain Bercel. The girl had to be reassured that she would be welcomed back despite all the years of abuse and being traded hither and yon. It was night when they broke from the tunnels to the clear skies. Not wanting to be caught out in the open the party traveled at night, easily finding the landmark that led them to the sanctuary Lord Bercel had said would be theirs.
From there the party led their charges west until they crossed the borders of Bhel and Angiertha; they found themselves in Roloi territory. After a few days they came across their first Roloi settlement where they were greeted as heroes. Despite his dislike of drink, Enkili woke up with a hangover all the days they stayed. The dispersal of the freed people actually began. There were tribes folk from the Roloi, the Brunok, and the Wokari all of whom sought out their own clans. There were several other folk, homeless and kinless, who also decided to stay with the boisterous but welcoming Angierthans.
The next leg of their trip, the party led the mass of remaining charges to the south east through Wokari lands until they passed into the kingdom of Errod. All the Errodians among the freed people peeled off as they began the road north, most of that journey was by river ship. They then took ship from the port city of Tarskin (Errod) to Lur. Islanders from Lur and Yri departed on their own from there, but the remaining bulk of freed peoples joined the party on their ship cruise to The Freehold….
Blaylockes Tale
Blaylocke had turned to run when a shower of quarrels struck him, the poison tipped missiles worked quickly. He turned, his eyes already rolling, but the bard did witness three Drow women drawing short swords as they marched relentlessly towards him.... His drift in darkness let up, but Blaylocke could still feel his stomach knotting from the venom racing through his veins, the fog clouding all his thoughts. Rough hands were wrenching his strengthless arms behind his back, Dark skinned women with bone white hair were binding him with ropes. The bard's eyes rolled again and all sensation faded into dark.... Pain, loud noises. Is that fighting?, he thought. So tired. Why is my stomach knotting so bad. Fierce screams and the clash of metal weapons faded into sweet oblivion.Time had passed, Blaylocke could feel that as his eyes began to flutter open. His guts still wrenched inside, and his eyes were still leaden, but sleep was no longer a bastion. What met his eyes made him remember the Sverfneblin they had met on their first adventure in The Freehold, but none of the gray faces he saw were Lukoff the Wizard. Their numbers were hard to count as his eyes still resisted focussing but they were less than a dozen. Though the sounds that came out of his mouth sounded like mush, Blaylocke did manage to get out some legible words. "Hey Lads, Care to help a guy out here?" Hard Sverfneblin eyes grew harder, and a few blood spattered individuals raised gore streaked weapons, and a rough boot stamped threateningly nearer his head.
They spoke among themselves, their language sounding familiar, but also too odd to understand. They seemed to be judging his fate, and he could tell that the prognosis was not going his way. The three dead Drow women laying nearby did not inspire the bard with hopeful thoughts either. To his surprise, the mob of Sverfneblin put their weapons away before they hoisted him up. For some reason he did not understand, Blaylocke felt that the south eastern cavern they aimed for was not the direction he wanted to go. Poison turned his protests into inarticulate mouth noises, which did not halt his tied up odessy.
Before they actually entered the area where the cavern narrowed into the tunnel he did not want to head into, the whole party of deep gnomes halted and turned about. A strange dark haired man with slanted eyes was now visible in the north, near the dead Drow. A short stare off happened, before the human raised empty hands and began a slow advance. Oh, that is that Human from Quan, Akio, Blaylocke finally realized. Akio called out asking for the bard to be turned over to him. Tension was rife which made the negotiations feel very tentative. Blaylocke began to add his two coppers to the discussion, and Akio and he did manage to get Sverfneblin hands off of half drawn weapons.
This made Blaylocke essay a song, his deep voice, however, rasped too much. The Drow poison still made his tongue a nigh brick behind his teeth. Still, despite his horrible delivery, some stern Sverfneblin faces lost menace and opened up in hope and delight. Heartened, Blaylocke tried again to make his captors more pliable. He stated that his other friends would offer compensation for his safe return. The leader's eyes took on a speculative look. Though the timing was off by several minutes, eventually the negotiations trickled to a halt when the repetative sound of steel on stone issued from the north. Enkili, with light issuing from his helmet, stepped into the cavern with Merketh's head held high in one hand and his big sword clutched in the other fist....
**The plan is to help the remainder of the now free men and women to their homes, or get those without a place to get employment or travel funds to the places they would like to establish themselves.
*Okay, we survived (wiping sweat from my brow). Our next tasks are papers and paychecks chores. Not only has the party leveled up, but they must make Bastion choices for at least 6 weeks of time; encompassing travel time, and then training time. All this training and Bastion choices are to be done in the forum, we should do all that under Level-Up Information.
*** Here is a URL that has the Bastion Rules... I think. If that does not work, I have been advised that 5E tools (2024) has the DMG where the bastion rules are contained.
http://dnd2024.wikidot.com/bastions#Pub
EP 133 21st Kemen - 7th Naza C.E. 1032
*This week (February 8th) was given to papers and paychecks, where we leveled up our characters and managed our bastions for the nigh 2 months of downtime. At 13th level all our characters also gained a new bastion facility which we had to choose. That is also the reason that this synopsis is so very brief.
Though Delain Bercel was hesitant at the reunion, Lord Bercel was overjoyed. His daughter had been thought dead and was not. Her hesitation stemmed from going through puberty while being owned by an assortment of masters, some of whom were more vile than others. Delain’s defenses could not stand in the face of her father’s love, and she realized that this was the time to heal. On the ship to The Freehold from the island of Lur, one of the liberated prisoners revealed that they were more important than first assumed.
It turned out that the missing prince of Brandt had been hiding among the prisoners. He had remained silent until certain that the party had been forthright in their claims to return everyone to their home, or find them homes if they had none. Thus when the party arrived at The Freehold their attention was consumed with the fanfare of the Brandti consulate. Each party member was granted a special medallion that gave them ambassadorial powers within Brandt, with a guaranteed parley with the king of Brandt himself.
These deeds were spread far and wide, faster than a grass fire in high winds. This helped Blaylocke out immensely as his first theatrical show was unveiled to the public. “The Folly of Frodendahl” has been showing as much as three times a day for several weeks, and the public seems eager for it to remain….
*Told you it was brief. Our next game will be February 15th, where we will have our characters clean up their inventories and take care of business, such as identifying items, and selling others. We also must go over the papers taken from the slaver stockade with our allies and flesh out our knowledge of the slaver networks. The proposal to head to Onastia, way up north, was advanced again. Maybe Miriel the urchin can be freed.
Episode 134 Naza the 7th, 1032 C.E.
*This is another short episode. We had to go over 6 weeks of intelligence and information generated by our bastion facilities. We are still going to bring our finding to Lord Bercel, then we have to figure out our next steps.
Blaylocke’s people brought him information on how Wizard's Peak had come into existance. 1) Wizard’s Peak came into being during the First Devastation, when the Crown of Worlds was sundered. 2) The Crown of World’s destruction caused dimensional tears in Erath’s reality. This created gateways to other worlds, the nexus of which is the Hall of Worlds within Wizard’s Peak, where many of them converge. 3) Some of these gateways in the Hall of Worlds lead to regions internal and external to Erath. This seems to indicate that some of these rifts allows travel to locations on and under the surface of Erath.
The bard also uncovered some more findings about The Sainted Sword. 1)The Sainted Sword was birthed under the sands of the Forbidden Pass. This was where legend says the Mandagan people migrated from or through, though no travel now occurs through this fearsome region. 2) ...With the coin made from a stone, a song stolen from dirt, and a knife from under the hills, Malaq wove his most powerful spells into the sword…. This little riddle was decyphered. The coin made of stone refers to the blood of a Dao (earth based Djini), the song was a Dao tongue, and the blade from under the hills indicate the bones of a Dao were used in The Sainted Sword’s creation. Malaq had intended the blade to kill it’s user, but these features were stripped away when Malaq’s curse was broken.
3) This is a bit of prophesy that has Enkili stymied. “Peace will be known to it’s realm when The Sainted Sword returns to it’s forge.
This next bit of lore is about the Vast, some suspicions were confirmed. 1) Writings indicate that The Vast is sentient and seeks to keep the unwary and lost who enter it. 2) The Entry into The Vast is hidden inside the Temple of Tarthil. We had assumed that the Gnarl held the entrance, but that had been a false lead. 3) Based off a snippet of earlier gleaned lore, it has been determined that lodestone is used as a currency by those who live in The Vast. Quarrying or prospecting for lodestone may hold many dangers.
Our bastion workers also found out some information on ancient Tarthil. 1)Tarthil suffered corruption from the sundering of The Crown of Worlds. It has a ‘shadow contagion’ from long term exposure to the immediate area. 2) Tarthil’s corruption is not connected to the Realm of Shadows (the negative material plane), but has an “otherness” nature. 3)Tarthil had at one time been a major hub of commerce in the ancient Seldarrin kingdom.
*This is all that is new. Our next game will be February 22nd. Below is a list of the NPC’s who make the party’s bastion facilities work.
**Blaylocke has Arhtfro Treca, a human male, as his archivist.
Agriman Forthe, Human male, Librarian.
Brin Brightforge and Frin Brightforge, both Dwarven males, run the smithy.
Bertregrand Varner, Human male, is Blaylocke’s trader from the storehouse.
Ceaht Ditter, Human Male, directs in the Theater. Troch Sorange, Human male, actor; Eahr Volance, Human male, actor; Reyla Paimbert, Human female, actor.
***Jolrael has Jesett Crafter, Human Male, as his artificer.
Gratal Skurna, Human female, tends his garden with Meljn Mamagum, Gnome male, also a gardener.
Glermad Neezle, Gnome male, is an alchemist.
Glurkad Ironwrought, Dwarf male; Una Glittering, Gnome female; Morynel Isandre, Elf, male, Saengwig Wirhard, Human male; and Dales Narthwip, Human male, are all the people the sorcerer employs as artisans
****Here are Leiya’s employees.
Ever Hos and Esoard Hos (twins), Human males, work as gardeners.
Cam of Whold, Human male, works her greenhouse.
Priestess Cassia Lordliss, Human female, is the custodian of the reliquary.
Priest Hin Leydley, Human male, fronts the sacristy.
Priestess Moir Eadaen, Human female, caretaker of the sanctuary.
*****The people answering to Grynn are-
Priestess Atalina Kvetoslava, Human female (Onostian), holds the sacristy.
Priestess Kisenda Veryth, Human female, wards the sanctuary.
Hladis, Human male (freed slave), acts as his scribe.
Daymin Leske, Human male, is caretaker of the teleportation circle.
******Enkili’s employees are-
Fislin Laek, Human male, quartermaster.
Ballard “Longsnake” Fiske, Human male, recruiter.
Cailli, Human female, is the current expert trainer. Grecourt, Human male; Mallers, Human male; Ossart, Human male, are the assistant trainers.
Siathine Baeran, Human female, is the bartender at The Wayward Sword tavern. The tavern is about to be expanded.
This is a list of the bastion defenders, housed in Enkili’s barracks- Edien, Gedway, Foundet, Hembaut, Gauvanë, Hadien, Rollart, Inard, Habsin, Anard, Melairë, Espadon, Mairset, Batin, Ronnas, Ynë, Raherë, Gorbelon, Chassanot, Engudë, Havin, Rolart, Runnier, Jumin