Session 126: Fear in the Forest

Day 16 of Harvester

We gathered up all the gold and managed to fit some of it into our bags with the remaining piles of gold piled onto cloaks and then levitated by Lhoss so that we could carry it back to town. We laid out the camouflage tarp to cover the remaining silver and copper, and slowly made our way out of the barrowmaze and back into the marsh. From there we moved a ways into the Dim Forest before pausing to eat (Hilja fed Lhoss, who was concentrating on levitating the gold).

As we finished eating, Feno noticed something about 10 feet down the trail, hanging from a branch on a bush. It appeared to be a roughly-rectangular textile. I snuck closer to it and saw that it appeared to be torn from clothing. There were also many booted footprints on the floor of the forest path. I checked the area for traps and picked up the cloth. It had blood on it, and there appeared to be more blood on the plants and earth there as well. We continued carefully down the path, watching around us as we went.

As we traveled, Lhoss began to whisper that she felt we were being watched. She was trying to maintain her concentration but sweating profusely with the effort. The rest of us looked around carefully but saw nothing. Lhoss' strain continued and she soon lost all concentration, letting the gold-filled cloaks sink to the floor of the forest path. She insisted we were about to be attacked and was especially concerned about the area off to our left in the forest. Feno fired an arrow where Lhoss pointed, but it merely embedded in a tree. We waited, weapons drawn, but nothing happened. The forest seemed even more silent than usual, but none of us other than Lhoss could see or hear anything that might be a sign of danger.

When nothing happened, Lhoss agreed to continue the march to Orlane, despite her anxiety. Hilja and Kyro assured her they would keep her safe so she sat in the path next to the gold and re-memorized her levitate spell as the rest of us guarded and watched carefully all around us. We saw nothing for those 30 minutes. Although Lhoss was still worried and hearing sounds in the forest that the rest of us could not hear, she cast levitate again and we marched forward with our floating gold.

As we left the forest, the sunlight and warmer air of the fields helped Lhoss feel better, but she still whispered that there was something watching from behind us. Hilja and Kyro reassured her again and she appeared to slowly calm down as we moved closer to Orlane.

Arriving in the town a few hours before sunset, we went straight to the jeweler’s. We traded the gold for platinum and gems, then traded the coin and gems the party had in the bag of holding for a 1000gp ruby for the group, dispersing the coinage and gems between us. Our heavy load lightened, we returned to the inn for dinner and retired for the night.

Session 125: Rock, Parchment, Dagger!

The situation: Gnorcia has just lost her arm and is slowly being sapped of energy due to blood poisoning. The solution: Feno carries Gnorcia like a football and leads the party back to Orlane. It is a warm, late-summer day as the group (Feno, Niki, Sergius, Calbach, Gnorcia, and Lhoss) trek through the steaming marsh. It is cooler in the Dim Forest, but not in a welcoming way. The oppressive gloom eventually gives way to farmlands, dotted with farms both familiar and new. Where the farms used to keep a healthy 5-6 mile distance from the edge of the forest, they encroach ever closer, some as near as a mile. Hopefully these farmers have stout hearts and strong swords to face any straggling fiends they might encounter. Nevertheless, the Saviors of Orlane will strive to wipe out the source of danger so all can live in safety. The band is hailed by friendly farmers who know of the heroes' reputation and offer fresh milk and apples to sustain them on their short journey back to town. A most welcome gesture.

The majority of the party heads to the bustling common room of the Foaming Mug where it seems some sort of drinking celebration has many townsfolk enjoying the local ale. Gnorcia downs a quick plate of fruit and then makes her way wearily over to the temple. Misha Devi is most concerned about Gnorcia's blood poisoning and missing arm. The blood poisoning can be cured with a cure disease spell and the temple will do such for an offering. Luckily Gnorcia knows a certain practitioner of St. Cuthbert who will probably do it for free. As to her missing arm, Misha gives several avenues. There is a powerful spell that could restore the arm, but the priests of the temple of Merrika are not powerful enough to help. She could possibly find help at the temple of St. Cuthbert (at the name Misha makes a face) in Hochoch or Hookhill, although as she is not a member of that faith, she should expect a steep price tag, perhaps as high as 15 thousand gold pieces. But there is also a rumor of a powerful baron to the west who had possession of an enchanted ring that is able to regenerate a limb. Gnorcia is at present surprisingly unbothered by the lack of an arm (at least it isn't her stabbing arm!) so she thanks the priestess for the info and seeks out Armatzi who graciously cures her.

Back at the inn, Calbach decides it will be great fun to teach a game to the locals: rock, parchment, dagger. But the locals he first encounters are so deep in their cups, they can't wrap their heads around his explanation. Soon they are bobbing their heads in agreement and buying Calbach round after round of ale because they believe it is a drinking game. While Feno rubs his head in embarrassment and Lhoss watches from a distance with a level of amusement, Calbach keeps at it thinking if he keeps talking, eventually the drunkards will get it. They never do. Calbach gives up and walks away from the table, leaving the two ales purchased for him untouched. Then, as a somewhat revived Gnorcia re-enters the inn, Calbach is inspired to carve her a new arm. His first attempt is a rough oak limb that is as long as Gnorcia is tall. He scampers back out to try again and an exhausted Gnorcia goes up to bed. Calbach brings in a surprisingly thoughtful arm he has crafted with linen straps to attach to her stump, but he will have to give it to her in the morning. A joyful crowd of locals is hoisting their mugs in the air, swinging them to the left and shouting "rock!", to the right and cheering "parchment", and then shouting "dagger!" and downing the contents. What an enjoyable game!

The morning dawns cold and dreary. The group decides not to travel today and instead busies themselves with errands around the town, buying supplies, selling treasure, and donating crab spider poison to the temple. By mid-morning it was pouring rain, and the party was grateful to not be traveling in the bad weather. During their day in town, several rumors are heard; Gnorcia hears that hill gnomes have gone to offer their services against the giants; Armatzi hears that there is a growing schism between the followers of Merrika and St. Cuthbert; Niki and Kyro hear grumbling about newcomers who are taking valuable farm land from locals; Lhoss hears from old timers in Orlane who insist that all entrances the the barrowmaze are trapped. After a quiet day, everyone retires and prepares for an early journey back to the crypts.

A crisp, cold morning greets the adventurers, but also a new delight: cocoa! The local farmers worry that the frost will damage the late-season crops, but the brisk air makes for a nice travel morning. The entrance into the barrowmaze is pleasant in the fact that it is actually warmer, but not in any other aspects. The stale, dry air carries the smell of rot and squeaking sounds that get stronger the deeper the group moves. Moving through a maze of tunnels, the group comes upon a pale green caterpillar-shaped creature with 10 tentacles feasting on a humanoid. Sensing fresh blood, it turns on the party. The creature attacks and paralyzes Sergius and Niki. Lhoss does some damage with her magic missiles and Feno finishes the brute, the sundering slice sending frozen chunks flying. There is a tantalizing glint of mounds of treasure, but first Sergius and Niki notice a ghastly writhing something beneath their skin. Feno quickly cuts out the worm from Niki and Gnorcia deftly removes the one from Sergius. The party then discusses the best way to transfer all these riches out of the dungeon!

Session 124: Gnorcia and the No-Good, Very Bad, Day

The group, consisting of Gnorcia, Lhoss, Feno, Kyro, and Niki (the others were mysteriously teleported off or disappeared through mysterious circumstances) continued to explore the underground caverns deep underneath the barrowmaze. As they proceeded to explore the various tunnels, they eventually discovered a small cavern filled with fungi and mushrooms of various sizes, as well as a small pool of liquid, presumably water. As they approached the fungus, two of them started to scream. This surprised the group a little, especially Feno, as he had never seen or encountered screaming fungus before. As the two were screaming, another, larger fungus with multiple limbs started to walk menacingly towards the group. At nearly the same time, the group hears the familiar sound of skeletons shuffling towards them from the opposite side of the room. With their glowing blue eyes, the group sees the familiar forms of sapphire skeletons approaching, drawn by the screaming fungus it would seem. Niki, Feno, and Gnorcia, being near the front of the group, try to attack the fungus, but surprisingly, perhaps due to the screams of the mushroom creatures, miss their attacks. The skeletons attack Kyro in the rear, and cause minor damage, but he has cuts and bruises he didn't take care of from a previous fight, so this attack especially hurts. The mushrooms finally reach Gnorcia, and attack, hitting her with a seemingly poisonous attack. It appears to be a particularly debilitating poison that quickly begins to corrode her left arm, causing it to rot from within. Lhoss, using her enchanted gear, gets on the ceiling quickly and a skeleton tries to attack her, but she is well out of its range, having climbed the ceiling like a spider. She tries to hit the skeleton with her staff but was unable to do so for some reason. One of the fungi attacks Niki and hits, but fortunately her druidic powers protect her momentarily from the poison's effects, and she shrugs it off. Feno and Lhoss both watch as the poison takes greater hold upon Gnorcia, now traveling to her leg. She tries to drink a cure poison, but quickly discovers that it is a disease that has afflicted her, and no a poison as previously thought. Fortunately, the next few attacks of the fungi on her miss. Unfortunately, the disease takes root in her arm, and it falls off, completely rotted away. 

The gods, finding mercy on the group perhaps, summon the paladin Chalkboi into their midst. Quickly surveilling the situation and with a grave look on his face, he lays his hands upon Gnorcia and uses his innate abilities and cures Gnorcia of the disease. While the arm still lay on the ground withered and rotted off, she was no longer in danger of dying thanks to actions of this paladin. Feno, with a flurry of blades and a in a fit of rage, destroys all the remaining mushrooms in the room, whether they were a threat or benign. Lhoss tries to utilize her levitate magic to neutralize a skeleton near her from being able to attack the party, but it shrugs off the spell, having no effect. Fresh off of curing Gnorcia, Chalkboi attempts to turn the undead, but perhaps due to the strength of these skeletons, or the dampening from the barrowmaze, he is unable to do so. Gnorcia sneaks behind a skeleton, and destroys it, causing it deep blue sapphire eyes to fall to the ground. Kyro, sensing Feno near him, disengages, and allows Feno to take his spot into the skeleton battle foray. Feno swings his mighty sword, but still having ringing from his ears from the mushrooms, misses again. Lhoss and the rest of the group take turns and eventually destroy the remaining skeletons, and the eyes, preventing them from regenerating. 

Following that battle the group decides to explore a little more and look for a quiet place to eat and meditate (for those that are magically inclined). They stumble upon some fire beetles, which attack the party. They are fast and hungry, and attack both Lhoss and Gnorcia first, biting each for minor damage. Lhoss hits one with her weapons for minor damage, but Gnorcia misses, perhaps thrown off from her missing appendage. Feno squeezes into the area with the beetles to attack. With a fine, icy mist emanating from the enchanted blade, he strikes true, dealing instant death to the fire-based creature. Gnorcia steps up and does her usual aerial maneuver and flips behind a beetle to attack, destroying it. One of fire-beetles, especially hungry, attacks Feno, nearly biting him. Feno attacks back and destroys it in vengeance. With his fighter bloodlust he steps up and destroys another one, this one near Gnorcia. Finally, Gnorcia, steps up and kills the last one with ease. With the final beetle destroyed, the group gathers the glowing glands (that are similar in torchlight in terms of glowing light) and finally sits down to eat and memorize spent spells. Feno takes the role of guard, and watches the entrance to the cavern they are in. Just as the group started eating a Feno sees a group of undead in tattered clothing approaching. He lets the group know before preparing for battle. Chalkboi once again tries to turn these undead known as Huecava but is unsuccessful. Gnorcia, filled with large sense of bravery perhaps, rushes forward to attack these new undead creatures. Her attacks do minimal damage to their bony exteriors. They attack back and hit her with their poisonous claws, infecting her with a new blood poison. She suddenly feels very tired and drained. Feno, seeing this familiar scene unfolding, rushes toward Gnorcia, and picks her up under his arm and runs back toward the rest of the party. The undead try to take advantage, but Feno easily dodge their attacks. Kyro throws a vial of holy water, causing it to smash on one of the Huecava, causing moderate damage. The group take turns, and eventually kill the new undead with Feno dealing the final blow to the last Huecava.

Session 123: Adventuring in Orlane

We had lunch at the inn and Lhoss shared that she had overheard some talk about another band of adventurers in Orlane. We thought to find out where they were and see if they are friendly or not, so we headed over to the Golden Grain Inn. There we saw two older men engaged in an early drinking game, and at one corner table there was someone in a hooded cloak

Innkeeper Bertram welcomed us and Lhoss asked about another adventuring party. He said three people, including a strongman, were looking for torchbearers, and they stayed the night. He thinks they found a couple of farm lads looking to make some extra money, and he thought he heard something about either Hookhill or Hochoch, but he can’t remember. He suggested talking with Molly, who spent more time serving them.

Molly, a young woman with braided blonde hair, comes out from the kitchen. Molly said they were two men and an elf, and they seemed decent enough people, paying good coin for torchbearers. Their leader was a thin man named Sly, who did most of the talking. There was a larger man who seemed interested in her, and an elf who seemed aloof. They were going to the barrowmarsh in search of adventure, calling themselves “The Boon Companions”, and they had talked about going to the jeweler for something important.

We found that interesting and left to see the jeweler, Haskell. He said some other adventurers had come by the day before but had little to share. We then decided to split up around the town and watch the roads, as well as ask around if anyone else had seen the adventurers.

Lhoss went to Ramne’s to chat and to watch the northern road. He had a lot of questions about how she is using her spells and generally getting on as his pupil. He made dinner and they stayed the evening on the porch and were entertained by Whiskers.

Kyro went to the Temple and they greeted him warmly. They had lots of tasks for him and while working and chatting he learned there was some conflict with the clerics.

Hilja went to the Slumbering Serpent and spent time drinking, eating, and listening to conversations. She heard a lot of talk about the newcomers in the area, those building new homes, and how Orlane is changing. The talk had a somewhat negative tone and there was some grumbling about the land being divided up.

Feno and Eldriel went to the elves’ house to see if they had seen the other adventurers. They had not, but said they would keep a watch out for them. They also talked about elven matters and how Orlane is primarily a human town and nation, and how they are politely received but sometimes hear rude comments and experience faux pas from humans dealing with elves.

Arnd went back to the Golden Grain Inn, ordered some food and quite a bit of ale, and watched for the possible return of the other adventurers. He did not see the man in the hooded cloak again. Not too many people at the inn were interested in talking, but they were interested in him and asked some questions about dwarves that he found a bit odd though not offensive.

Gnorcia went to Hewitt Twain’s farm where she collected a dozen eggs and shared a meal. The Twain family had seen a fair number of people about, as the town is bustling and still growing. At least ten new farms have been pitched this year. She intuited that prices are going up a bit and it’s a sort of boomtown right now. There was also talk of a militia being put together from Orlane and Hewitt’s sons were ambivalent about joining. After dinner, Gnorcia excused herself to the porch and watched the road.

After about 10 minutes a group of adventurers appeared that seemed to match the description from earlier. Gnorcia shadowed them to the Golden Grain Inn.

As Arnd was eating dinner, a large group of men came in and went upstairs. One of them was an elf. They were wearing armor and the elf was wearing distinctive red chain mail. As they were going up, Gnorcia stepped inside just long enough to motion to Arnd that she was going north, then headed up to find Lhoss.

As she approached the bridge over the river, she saw another large party and hid by a nearby barn to watch. One of them was an elf, two were dwarves, and two were humans, one male and one female. They went to the Slumbering Serpent. Others who appeared to be day laborers also came down the road and went to the Golden Grain Inn. Gnorcia then hurried off to find Lhoss and the two of them split up again, Lhoss to retrieve Kyro from the temple, and Gnorcia to retrieve Feno and Eldriel from the elves’ house.

After explaining what she had seen, Gnorcia invited Feno & Eldriel to go to the Golden Grain Inn to possibly speak with the elf in the red chainmail. Dorian & Llewellen were also curious and accompanied them. We returned to the inn and foundArnd, who waved us over to his table. Arnd said the group had changed their dirty armor for clean clothing, and had come back down and ordered food. The elf was then dressed in a blue hood and tunic. Dorian and Llewellen said they weren’t familiar with the red chain mail, but they did note that the elf was a high elf, like themselves. Feno, a wood elf, decided to introduce himself to the high elf, who was with the group crowded around a large table. Eldriel (a grey elf) stayed with Dorian and Llewellen at Arnd’s table and watched with curiosity.

Gnorcia and Arnd then decided to see if the dwarves at the other inn were friendly, and excused themselves, heading north to the Slumbering Serpent. As they entered, they found Lhoss and Kyro speaking with Hilja, who had been drinking quite a bit and was rather tipsy. Just then, a group of adventurers came down from upstairs and ordered dinner. Kyro and Lhoss immediately had to wrangle Hilja back into her seat and give her another ale, as she seemed intent on approaching the other group and they didn’t want her doing that in her condition.

Gnorcia, Arnd, Lhoss, and Kyro then left Hilja at her table and moved closer to the other adventurers. Arnd whispered to Gnorcia that the dwarves were Hill Dwarves, whereas he is a Mountain Dwarf and doesn’t associate much with Hill Dwarves. Lhoss noted that the elf was a male high elf with dark hair and he appeared to be both a rather young elf and the one in command of the group. The dwarves were sitting near each other, and the humans were sitting either side of the elf. The male human appeared to be wearing some sort of religious garb, but the female human was oddly spinning utensils on her fingers as she ate. She was also sitting with her back to the wall, watching the room, and appeared to recognize that the group was watching her. Lhoss meet her gaze but soon looked away, intimidated. Kyro stepped up next to Lhoss and glared at the woman, who then looked away dismissively.

The rest of their group then took note of our party before turning back to their food. After about an hour, the room cleared up a bit and the woman and one of the dwarves got up and seemed to go up to their rooms. Emboldened, Lhoss went over to the remaining group and introduced herself. She explained that we were adventurers and were curious about what they were doing. They weren’t very friendly and the elf said that as long as we stay out of their way, there shouldn’t be a problem. Lhoss asked if they were exploring the barrowmaze but got silence in return. We then left and returned to the Foaming Mug where we met up with Eldriel and Feno, and shared what happened in both places.

Feno told us he had introduced himself and the elf at the other inn, who responded by asking him cooly, “Do I know you?” Feno shook his head and asked, “What brings you to these parts?” The elf replied, “Well, that’s my business.” Feno had continued, saying, “I make it my business to keep an eye on elves traveling about with humans.” At that, the others at the table gave him inquiring and slightly hostile looks, but quickly turned back to their food.

Feno said that Dorian and Llewellen didn’t recognize him. Irritated by the elf;s cool responses, Feno convinced one of the bartenders to serve them bad ale. They then got into an argument with their server and the barkeep over the ale and Feno gave the bartender some gold for his trouble. After discussing the results of our evening adventures, we determined that maybe in the future we should try buying ale for folks before we start asking them questions.

The next morning we had breakfast by 5:00 am, and were on our way by 6:00, dragging Arnd and Hilja, who were both a bit hung over. We saw farmers loading food into wagons and heading toward Orlane, and talked to one who was delivering food to the Slumbering Serpent that day. We arrived mid-morning at the barrowmaze, not having seen anyone else along the way. As we were talking about which entrance to go to, a group of skeletons attacked! Hilja immediately cast entangle and five of the seven skeletons were caught in vines. One slowly stumbled out and headed toward Feno, who completely obliterated it. Arnd then stepped up to the other skeleton and obliterated it with his newly-acquired warhammer as well. After that, Arnd demonstrated the hammers throwing feature, destroying all of the remaining skeletons (despite a few bad throws.)

We then went back to the main entrance of the barrowmaze and wound our way through to the obelisk room. From there, we went east and into the catacombs where we had previously discovered a cavelike structure at the end of one of the halls. Arnd led the way with his 10-foot pole, and we wound our way through the cave, finding a few forks and three dead ends before we determined to go back to the first fork in the cave.

Session 122: Physical Therapy and Friendly Fire

In the aftermath of the paralyzing hug bestowed on Calbach by Roots, the rest of the party (Sergius, Niki, Gnorcia, Lhoss, Chalkboi, and Kyro) find themselves at a loss as to how to help their motionless comrade. As they stew over ideas, an eye and ear appear on the wall. Kyro, quick as lightning, fires off an arrow and strikes true. With a curse, the apparitions vanish. Still, the problem of a helpless teammate remains. Lhoss removes Calbach's boot and instructs him to wiggle his toes. He does. A little. He is also able to wiggle his fingers, but nothing else. Kyro splashes a small amount of water on the patient and he twitches, but nothing more. Lhoss ambulates his limbs, circling his arms and legs in an attempt to reanimate them. It helps. A little. Lhoss determines that the best course of action is to re-memorize her levitate spell and float Calbach to Orlane and figure it out from there. Meanwhile, in the midst of study, Calbach recovers and wearily stands back up. Wryly, Gnorcia offers a hug which Calbach declines with a tinge of chagrin. Time to get back to the task of searching the upper hallway alcoves.

In the first hallway, a skeleton lies in repose upon a slab. As Niki enters to sweep the room, it animates and grabs her by the throat, strangling her. Kyro is the first to act and fires off an arrow, but in the struggle between friend and foe, Niki shifts into the path of the arrow and is hit. Eyes already widened and bulging from the force of being throttled, are cast back to Kyro who immediately fills with shame and regret. Once again, the group is reminded of the danger of firing ranged weapons into melee. Calbach and Lhoss attempt to swing their blunt weapons to disengage the bony figure, but are unsuccessful. Niki herself uses her warhammer to shove the creature away. It falls to the ground, seemingly defeated. The group takes a collective breath, but then the undead foe jumps back up, ready for more! With deft action Gnorcia finishes it off using Vengeance. Calbach pulls the arrow from Niki's arm and the party resolve to finish searching before heading back to Orlane. The group finds a hand axe with dwarven runes that name the weapon Brilnok, which means light. There is also a dwarven shield that is claimed by Sergius. Calbach contemplates destroying the slab and pillar until it's pointed out that they're made of granite and unlikely to be damaged without great effort and is dissuaded. Additionally the party finds a sling and cloak. The hour is getting late, so they all depart for Orlane, hungry for a delicious dinner.

They arrive in town earlier than they customarily do and find the dinning room humming with patrons. Several of the townsfolk are curious and interested in their adventures, so the day's activities are recounted (with just a few flourishes to display the strength and bravery of the Saviors of Orlane) and as a treat, Niki casts detect magic on the found items to wow the crowd a bit. It turns out the sling, axe, and robe are magical. Along with the coins found, not a bad haul for a day's work.