Session 169: Running Straight into Death

 Day 17 of Ready'Reat

What a miserable day this is turning out to be. The rain has soaked through most of our cloaks and clothes. Fortunately, we have made it to the moat house before we got too chilled from the cold and rain. We gathered some broken furniture from one of the rooms and built a fire in one of the broken fireplaces that this ruin has. It has allowed us to warm up and dry off our clothes. After sufficiently drying off, the group decides the best course of action is further exploration, and Morwenna directs us toward the basement, which we haven't really explored (the last time we were there we were attacked by the undead and nearly died). The impulsive barbarian Grug leads from the front. We reach the basement with little fanfare: nothing impeded our progress or try to kill us yet. Shortly after arriving, Morwenna discovered a small, hidden latch, that she hadn't noticed before. Elves truly are the superior race, and she is among the best of us. Once the rest of the group prepared themselves, she pulled the latch, and it revealed a passageway with stairs heading downward. Once again, we head down, with Grug leading the way. As we travel, Grug is offered Zorla's 10 ft pole, but opts to check the floor for traps using his spear instead. That barbarian's logic sometimes, baffles me. 

Eventually we are led to a room that diverges into two passageways: one to leads to the east, and another to the south. Morwenna wants the party to go east, but Grug it seemed has other intentions. He claims he needed to go to the southern passage so he could "relieve himself". Both Contristo look at each other with the same skeptical look, we don't believe him for a second. Contristo follows him a few steps behind, and I use my natural abilities to slink into the shadows and dark crevices to disappear from the view of others and follow both Grug and Contristo. The others it seems decide to continue to travel on the east passage. It would appear Grug is looking for sources of magic. He triggers something (I couldn't quite see what he pressed) which caused a large clanging noise in the area where we just were. Hopefully the rest of the party is okay. All of sudden I hear Grug make a sickening cry, which sounded an awful like a death cry. The sound a person makes when their essence is beginning to leave their body. It is a sound that is unmistakable, and the fact Grug made it, causes my hair to stand on end. I move out from the shadows to behold quite a sight: the fallen body of Grug, with an ogre standing over him. Just then the rest of the party joins the fray. Apparently, they were trapped under a huge cage that was sprung on them (the clanging noise!), heard Grug's cries, and came to investigate. A large group of gnolls, armed to the teeth, and equipped with bows and axes are prepared for us.  Contristo throws a dagger that looks slightly different than normal: it has a slight glisten to it as if he coated it with something (a poison maybe?). The poisoned dagger finds its mark, and poison begins to course through the creature's body.  The gnolls, for whatever reason, view Morwenna as the greatest threat to them, fire a volley of arrows at her, hitting her. She falls down, unconscious and mortally wounded. Azra, sensing the danger Morwenna is in, steps up and casts her healing magic on her, and brings her back to consciousness. I try to distract the gnolls while Opelle and Azra bring Morwenna to a safer location, by throwing a lit vial of oil at the gnolls. I missed the one I was aiming at, though I did hit one, cause him to burn some. They launched a volley of arrows at me as a result. As the arrows pierce my skin, and I quickly lose consciousness, the last thing I see is Morwenna dragged safely to safety. 

The next thing I remember is the warmth healing magic as I was brought back to conscious by Morwenna. Apparently, the gods have more things for me to do in this life yet.  I look around and Crassus is lying on the floor bleeding, apparently shot by the gnolls, and Zorla is attacking the ogre that killed Grug. Zorla is not winning the fight by the looks of it. She swings, somehow misses, then gets hit by its counterattack. Opelle, Azra, and Contristo sense this might be a losing fight, begin to disengage and start to back out of the passageway. Both Morwenna and I are in no condition to fight, having each nearly died, decide to rest and watch a moment. We look at each other, then look at the body of Crassus, then nod. We stand up and quickly move forward, grab Crassus' body and move him back to the safety of the passageway where we were resting. Apparently, this took the gnolls by surprise as they didn't fire an arrow at us. Morwenna used the last of her magic on Crassus, and he returned to the land of the living. We watch as the ogre strikes Zorla hard, causing her to fall down bleeding. It would appear she has lost this fight. But in a twist of fate, so does the ogre. Contristo's poison takes full effect, which kills the ogre instantly. The creature gurgles sickly, then collapses on the body on the fallen Grug. Morwenna persuades me to go get Zorla, since I can disappear seemingly at will. After waiting a few minutes, I walk slowly to Zorla, piveting my head side-to-side, watching and waiting for an ambush or any sign of danger. Finally, I get to her large body. I quickly look for and find what I'm looking for: bandages. I find and bandage the bleeding, stabilizing her. I drag her slowly back to the others, a few paces at a time. I do this both to ensure the bandages don't tear, as well as to check for danger. Finally, I place her in the caring hands of the others. The gnolls apparently, have gotten bored or got different orders because they decided to leave shortly after the ogre was defeated. Constristo, Azta, and Opelle, decide to come back, and the rest of the group start to discuss what to do with Grug. Contristo offers up a great suggestion taking what Grug no longer needs: his earthly possessions. We will discuss what else to do with this big impulsive barbarian body. 

Signed,

Farro Eagerstar  

Session 168 Azra Blog Placeholder

Session 167: Ogres, Druids, and Bears! Oh my!

Dictated by Zorla.

It was day 16 of Ready’reat and we were in a room in the basement of the Moathouse. Grug was digging through piles of trash and the rest of the party seemed to be wandering a bit and either watching Grug’s odd behavior or staring at the door to the south. Contristo, who had been watching the door, suddenly cried out that something was coming through it.

He shouted “Ogre!” and scrambled back and away from it. This ogre was smaller than the last one, but had a hungry look in its eye. Don't ask what that looks like. It just looked hungry somehow.

Opelle actually asked the ogre if it spoke common and it answered by swinging its fists at my head. I ducked and Morwenna cast sleep on it, then I slit its throat and closed the door behind it. Grug came running up and was quite bothered that he didn’t get to hit it. He smelled like smoke but I don't know why. The ogre was wearing a tunic with some letters on it but I have no idea what they were. Maybe someone else with an "education" knows.

Morwenna suggested we get out and head back to town before any more ogres showed up. We all agreed and soon emerged from the moathouse into the mid-autumn afternoon.

Back in Hommlet at the Inn of the Welcome Wench, Ostler called Contristo over and offered him a free ale for helping out his friend, Elmo’s father. I forget his name.

Contristo told the innkeeper that we fought two ogres and Ostler's face went pale. He said we needed to report this to Jaroo, the local druid of the grove, to Terjon, the cleric of St. Cuthbert, and of course to Bern and Rufus and to the village elder. Ostler also told Contristo about some local lore of dangerous people but I didn't understand most of it. Just that there were a bunch of bad guys who had done bad things in the past. Something like that. He also mentioned the upcoming meeting of the village elder on day 18 but we already knew about that.

I had to laugh because Ostler then warned Contristo about Furnock, who cheated at cards and regularly fleeced merchants passing through town. No idea how anyone could not have figured that out about Furnock on their own already.

Gremag, Rannos, and Charles then came in and sat together at a table. All of our party members paid for their rooms and Morwenna talked Azra into sharing a room with her. I was going to talk with Charles but that was too many people at one table and those guys talk a lot, so I ignored them.

The serving girl announced mealtime and Grug and Farro both ordered the elaborate dinner. When the food started coming out from the kitchen, the inn's dog—which had always shied away from Grug and even growled at Morwenna—went straight to Grug’s table and started whining and begging. Of course, Grug started slipping him bites of everything he was served. He even gave him bites of peach pie right off his barbarian-sized spoon! That dog ate better than I did. Farro kindly left an extra tip for the cook.

During dinner, Burne came in and sat at a table with Contristo. They talked about Elmo and Burne said there must be a response and restitution for Elmo’s death. He said it must be a powerful necromancer who could create zombies. Contristo told him about the ogres and Burne frowned and shook his head. He said that probably means there are other demi-humankind there, such as goblins, bugbears, gnolls, and maybe even trolls. Burne told Contristo to be cautious and agreed that the creatures could be related to those that had attacked Contristo’s original group on the road to Hommlet.

While they were talking, Burne also did a weird thing. He silently took out a packet of something and handed it to Azra. Contristo raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing. I really wanted to know what was in the packet but was not about to ask Azra, especially because it probably had something to do with magic and I didn't want to get Grug started on that subject.

Furnock had also returned with his cards and dice to a table for the evening. Farro pointed him out to Grug, who sniffed and refused to look at the gambler. I guess he hadn't figured it out for himself. I almost feel sorry for him.

Burne continued talking to Contristo and said there would be a reward from the town plus a reward from Elmo’s father for returning his equipment and defeating whatever evil is at the moathouse. Contristo got that hungry look in his eye at the mention of a reward.

Everyone eventually finished up their dinners and went up to bed.

The next day was day 17 of  Ready’reat. It rained all morning. When Grug went down for breakfast, the inn's dog started following him as soon as he came into the common room. He knows who to beg from now.

When Contristo came down for breakfast, he pulled out two more potions, offered them to Grug, and told him he didn't know what they were but that he was welcome to try them out. I can't believe that big guy never questions anything. He drank one and nothing seemed to happen, but soon after drinking the second one he took off running for the privy and didn't come back for about 15 minutes. No one dared go in there for the rest of the morning.

It was a cold day with all that autumn-season rain and everyone wrapped up in their cloaks. I ran up to the merchant for some more torches and hurried back to the inn.

Farro had announced he was going to the temple of St. Cuthbert but came back looking disappointed as well as soaked-through from the rain. Apparently he had asked the cleric about healing potions or if they needed ingredients for making them and the priest replied that they don't have any available, and they don't have anyone who can make them. Farro was annoyed that the cleric suggested going to a larger city, like Verbobonc.

Azra had also set off with Opelle to go to the grove, but returned quickly to the inn as the temperature dropped. Opelle kept going because she was much warmer than the rest of us in her fancy waterproof cloak. She later told us that the druids actually seemed invigorated by the rain, which I guess makes sense because they're druids. She talked with one of them about the ogres and he asked for a five-gold-piece donation, which she gave him. He then said he would assist with any combat injuries, for a price. Of course.

He also said the druids were interested in more information about the moathouse and might even offer a reward for it. That sounded good to me, but he told Opelle that because of her donation she is now a friend of the grove and wouldn't be attacked by the bear. That's ridiculous. If anyone should be a friend of the grove it's me because Fharlanghn is my diety. I decided to visit and be the one to give them an update the next time we came back to town.

After everyone made it back to the inn, Morwenna suggested we set out for the moathouse. No one was especially excited to go in the rain, but no one disagreed either. We left and trudged through to that dark and creepy place. At least the weather was appropriate for the mood.

That's enough for today. I need to go clean my axe and repair my armor.

Session 166: Grug the destroyer

It's Day 16 of Ready'reat and I (Morwenna) find myself with the party in the moat house looking at the corpse of a defeated ogre. Opelle chipperly suggests looting the corpse while Grug uses his spear to probe around the room. This room was apparently the living quarters of the late ogre and it is disgusting and slovenly. Glancing around the room with a slight feeling disgust, I notice a member of the party I've never met before. I wasn't with the group to fight the ogre, so I don't know when this gentleman joined, but he introduces himself as Crassus. He's a halfling which doesn't inspire too much confidence, but he claims to be a thief, so his occupation may prove him to be a shrewd character. Time will tell.

The party goes about their various tasks, some searching the room, while others eat. Opelle finds a chest and bardiche (some sort of polearm) and Crassus attempts to pick a locked door. When Crassus fails at this pretty basic thief task, Azra uses her elven wits and a simple cantrip to unlock the door. Crassus 0-1. Opelle opens the chest and finds some mundane treasure including glass beads, brass candlesticks, and a mess of coins. Crassus, meanwhile, pokes his head in through the opened door and catches a big snoot full of stink. There is a rotten smell that immediately sends the halfling into waves of nausea and vomiting. Crassus 0-2. Grug, Azra, and I are near the door, but I guess we are made of tougher stuff, because we aren't affected. I take a few steps away from Crassus and his growing pile of sick and sit down to eat.

Opelle seems quite excited about the glass beads and starts counting them while Contristo zeroes in on the coins. Should we be more concerned about overseeing Contristo? Who knows, but he seems to divide the treasure up evenly and fairly. As I finish up my lunch, I see that Farro has joined us and is beaten up and unconscious (possibly from the battle with the ogre, though I don't know where he disappeared to until now). I heal his wounds enough to revive him and we observe the curious actions of Grug.

Grug has begun to act twitchy. He is positively vibrating with agitation. He makes a swift surreptitious movement toward a pile of detritus and then quickly bolts to leave the room. Farro points out this unusual behavior and Grug calls out that he is leaving to relieve himself. There is something off about his demeanor, so I attempt to cast a distract cantrip on Grug, but the oaf somehow overcomes my magic. Azra and Opelle take a beat and then chase after the barbarian, but Grug got a head start. By the time the two clever elves have caught up to him, he is smiling self-satisfactorily and standing over a pile of smoldering, ashy something. The three of them rejoin the rest of us. Azra and Opelle are clearly upset, with Opelle nearly on the verge of madness ranting about how Grug had deprived her of knowledge. We all round on Grug, trying to work out exactly what he had done, but the brutish fellow evades questioning and slips away again proclaiming his need to urinate. Even after returning to the group, Grug seems immune to our interrogations. He simply will not state what it is he found and destroyed. Contristo takes another tack, and offers Grug a potion. Grug willingly accepts and downs it in one. I don't think Contristo knew what the potion would do because it didn't seem to have any effect and Contristo appears disappointed. Note to self: stay on Contristo's good side and don't drink any mystery potions he offers.

Session 165: Bring Out Your Dead! Bring Out Your Dead!

 Day 15 of Ready' Reat

The group and I (Farro) gathered at the inn for some grub and to get cleaned up after dealing with those decomposing meat puppets. After I grabbed a quick bite, I saw Furnach and Charles playing some cards, so I had join in. I did pretty decent (if I do say so myself) last time I played these two. Grug of course had to join in as well. The forest fates weren't with me that hand because both Grug and I lost to Furnach. Grug went to bed after losing, but I wanted another chance at winning. A halfling I kinda recognize decides to join the next hand. I realize that I recognize him from similar thieving circles from the Duchy of Ulek. He keeps eyeing the patrons for marks to pickpocket. I play the second better and end up beating Furnach and the new halfling, Crassus for the full pot. I leave to go take a bath and then bed because man do I stink.  

Day 16 of Ready' Reat

Following a decent breakfast, the group and I head up to replenish some supplies from the local merchants. I buy a shovel, and some needed oil. When I asked about some thieves' tools, the shopkeeper directed me to his nearby companion who introduced himself and sold me what I desired. I will have to keep him in mind for future jobs. Once shopping has been concluded, the group heads back to the moat house. We decide to investigate a door in the northeast of the main room. I look and study it for some time, but I can't see any traps of any kind on it. Grug opens the door, and the room is full of rubble, trash, and grease. There is an area that clearly shows signs that some sort of a treasure has been unburied and moved from this room. I notice a hidden lever on the wall and ask in elvish to my elven companion if I should pull it. They respond: "of course".  I pull the lever, and it opens up a section of wall, and a set of stairs downward. Grug runs headlong down the stairs. I roll my eyes, and slowly walk after him, hoping he doesn't end up setting off a trap or getting himself killed because I'm not pulling his giant body up these stairs. Others of the group follow after me and we end up in a small 10 ft by 25 ft room with no apparent exit. Grug, frustrated, punches the wall, and heads back upstairs. Opelle and Constristo follow him soon after. Something catches Azra's eyes I think, because she sees a very hidden lever and pulls it. A door is revealed, and a low gutteral growl comes from the new doorway. A large creature, an ogre, comes barreling into view, with blade in hand. He stares menacingly at me for some reason. He seems to say something, but I don't speak weird hostile animal tongue. He steps forward to attack me, but Azra quickly hits it with some sort of magical spell. It clearly does damage to it, but also makes it very mad. It takes a quick strike at me. I try to dip and dodge out of the way, but he hits me hard. The last thing I see as I collapse to the ground is the group attacking the creature that just bested me...

Session 164 A Beautiful Day

Grug and Zorla were super brave and stood in front. The group was honestly so nice to let me borrow their water and cup to turn it into firewater. I’ll have to thank them later. This is crazy that this is my first official fight, and my hands can’t stop shaking from fear and excitement. I honestly just want to run away from the zombies, but I can’t leave my friends behind. They’ve done so much for me already, and I’m so grateful.
:
/ /
Oil flies by us after I cast firewater, and the zombies just go up in flames. It’s scary, but the group holds firm. After a while, Contristo throws some knives or daggers or something dangerous like that, and they accidentally hit Grug.

.

Poor Grug! I’m sure Contristo feels so bad about it, so I’ll have to ask if he’s okay and make sure he doesn’t feel too guilty. I’m quite worried about Grug, and the only thing I can think of is healing my friend.  

We stop the zombies, and my heart hurts when I think about how they used to be living people just like us.

.

They had feelings, emotions, and everything! I’m trying not to cry just from the thought of it all. The group is extremely respectful to the bodies and tries their best to find them a final resting place.

/

They place the bodies in a room and try to mark the door, so that no one else can get hurt. I never would have thought about marking the door. I remain quiet for a moment to say a silent prayer in my head for the dead.

/

We carry Elmo back to his father, and I nearly start sobbing with him when he breaks down in tears. I never knew how hard being an adventurer could be. People get hurt, and I just want to save all of them. I try to comfort him the best I can, but I don’t think it would ever be enough. He offers us money, but it feels wrong to take money for doing the right thing. He tells us he will pay us more if we return with Elmo’s things, but I don’t think I’ll take the money next time. I’ll probably just give it back to him or donate it to some sort of charity. I’m excited to help these people. I just really hope I can make a difference somehow.

/

We head back to the inn, and I have a super awesome conversation with Morwenna. She’s so cool! We talk about how her dad owns a shop that sells buttons and clothes, which I get super excited about. I love sewing and making clothes. I think that’s something we can totally bond over. I can’t wait to get to know my friends better throughout our adventure, and I feel like our first time as a group went pretty well. Everyone was extra careful when we set up our plan with the zombies. I think we all get along great!

/

To be honest though, I’m scared to go back to that mote house, but I know I need to learn to be brave. I can’t wait for our next adventure and for us to save Hommlet!

Session 163: Foray to the moat house

I (Morwenna) found myself in the village of Hommlet on the morning of Day 15 of Ready'reat. The local inn has good food and a mix of interesting characters. The first fellow who caught my eye was a large blonde guy who was trying to pet the dog curled up in front of the fire. I later learned his name was Grug. The animal growled at Grug and the bar maid asked him to leave the dog alone. He was undeterred, however, and fed the creature strips of dried meat in an attempt to win it over. Grug's efforts seemed to be paying off, time will tell though.

As I sat at the bar ordering breakfast and chatting with the barkeep, an elf approached me. I'm always excited to see another elf and was happy to speak to him. His name was Farro and he invited me to join his adventuring party. Farro mentioned that they were intending to visit the moat house. I was a little on guard about that because I didn't have any idea what goes on there. Was it a cult? Farro didn't have too many answers, but he gestured to a table where a third elf and a half elf were seated. What luck! If I joined up, we were sure to be the cleverest and quietest party to ever raid a dungeon! My mood was somewhat spoiled to learn that there was also a human, half-orc, and that giant barbarian, Grug in the group. I'm sure they have their uses. Regardless, I'm looking for adventure, and here were a group looking to head out today. So I joined and we headed out to this moat house.

The human, Contristo, had been to the moat house with his previous party who had mysteriously disappeared and were presumed dead. He guided us there with a mix of anticipation and dread. I walked alongside the elf Azra and found that we are both from Celene. I think she and I will be good friends! The half-orc, Zorla, kept mostly to herself. On the roadside, we saw the bones of some large herbivore. For reasons I can't articulate, I felt a little sad at the sight. Soon enough, we rounded a bend and saw a crumbling facade with a rickety drawbridge. Grug decided the bridge wouldn't hold his weight, so he ran and leapt the length of it (and actually cleared it!) while the rest of us walked over it one by one.

Inside, we explored a few rooms that Contristo explained he had already searched with his former compatriots, but we searched again for whatever reason. Grug came across a broad sword and added it to his pack. We stopped to eat lunch. Before leaving the inn, I followed the half-elf Opelle's example of purchasing a sandwich packed by the barkeep. It was good! As I looked at the others gnawing on dried fruit and meat, I made the mental note to try and bring fresh provisions as often as possible. I'm worth it!

Azra shuffled and dealt her tarot cards and placed an ominous one. I'm not familiar with the practice, but it caused a chill among the group. She mentioned that she felt something was below us. Grug, meanwhile, came across a scrap of a rug. Poor guy was so excited he leapt up and hit the ceiling, knocking down dust and rubble onto himself and Farro. Moving through the rooms, we encountered the skeletons of dead rats and some stairs that led down. With a feeling of dread, we descended...

The party noted a large smudge mark at the base of the stairs and a foul odor. There were large piles of trash that the group started to sort through when we noticed that Farro was not with us. Suddenly we heard the sound of doors opening and looked to the hallway to the south and saw a horrible sight: zombies! We still could not see Farro, but Contristo could see that the zombies were the reanimated corpses of his former comrades. What a gruesome spectacle! Suddenly, we could see that Farro had been hiding in the shadows and emerged to stab and kill one of the zombies. Opelle was terrified and immediately began retreating to the stairs. I attempted to call on Solonar to turn the undead from our presence, but in my terrified state, I could not connect with his spirit. One of the zombies hit Grug with a devastating blow and the entire party decided to retreat up the stairs. Contristo and Farro held the last position and Contristo poured some oil and went to light it as a fire-wall to guard our backs as we retreated. For one heart-stopping moment, the oil almost didn't ignite. Then it exploded in flame, catching two undead alight and killing one of them. Sickeningly, the rest did not stop where the flaming corpses lay. Instead they stepped over the moldering mounds and trudged their decaying bodies ever closer to us.