Meet 44, Adv 10, 2/11/23

 Arnskar from the Hunter’s Guild and a small number of her assistants arrived on scene, requested by the watch to help police the dead as well as ensure public health and safety. We noted that our passage through time had aged all of us, including whatever we were carrying, which made the blood and ichor we carried putrefied. Wanting to take some of the displacer beast’s own blood to replace that which we had lost, we spoke with the guild master and she agreed to help us. One of her followers, a gnome, had us arrange all our flasks and vials in one place and then blasted them clean.

From there we refilled what we could and discussed with the local constabulary what was going on. The front yard was trashed and somehow the dead Boar, Carca, was offered up to be butchered – part of it going to Gryg’s family, part to Connal’s and the rest here for Dizzy and his sure to be upset mom.

We then looked to give up the tentacles of the Displacer Beast (we had gotten one earlier) in exchange for another Boar for Gryg – and that matter was resolved as well. We then went off, splitting up, with Dizzy, Eoghan, Grendel, and Wilhelm staying here and cleaning up – and the other two going to their respective families.

Dizzy went back to his mother’s room and took Frontari’s razor, and was proceeding to once again shave off almost 12” of hair, beard, and moustache. Shebara and Frontari did arrive – his mother furious at what had happened, the state of the property, and Idela – Why are you risking your life and doing this yourself? Frontari admonished Dizzy not to use his stuff and took the other out to go buy a razor for Dizzy, but also to get them 3 ales in.

Dizzy and Shebara had a long conversation where she wanted him to think about his choices and to recognize that he has great friends. She helped him shave and briefly, he was going to give her the holy symbol he had just quested to get. But she was very touched and returned it to him, wanting him to just be safe. They then went to a material yard and arranged to buy 16 wheelbarrows of dirt. They had it brought back and the workers helped fill in the holes, wash down the blood, and got some cooked boar and coin for their thanks.  The others returned, a few drinks in them, and they all ate and laughed, coming to a good family moment.

Gryg had gotten home and with the meat, met his dad and brothers, shared with them his adventures, and had some new found respect for his father and the hard choices he had to make to keep the family together. His mother, Tia, eventually arrived as well, obviously from Korok Reetersbeard’s office, Balderol with them. They all ate and then Gryg, his father and youngest brother all went off to two places. First, they went to the local Arbalester and purchased 2 crossbows and bolts – one for him to replace his broken one, and one for his younger brother. He also arranged to get him lessons while he was gone, impressing his father at the sheer amount of money he just spent.

Then they went to the Allfather’s Shrine where he made a formal transfer of his ordination from Sif to Odin – feeling the Allfather was more in line with his outlook on life and convinced that some months ago he actually met him during a period of the Aurora Borealis. Honor and Hope. They then shared a 3 ale libation and returned home.

We met up with Darius and Ryhgar not much later and then made the many day journey back south from IronCamp, through the Passian Hills, went through Manoria, stayed a day or two in Stivil, and then on Plantmoth the 6th, of the year 191 of the 30th age, came upon their home in Erylond and by 4:30 in the afternoon, pulled their wagon up to their home and entered at long last after being gone for 36 days.

Youth Group! TOEE - Meet 22, 2/8/23

And the group finally finished up their final fight in Hommlet. Everyone one is 3rd level and they are heading off to Nulb next to make their report and eventually meet the Viscount's man.

Follows: 

Restmonth the 14th, 2:35 in the afternoon. The fog was still thick and Rannos Davi’s men were trying to organize themselves better as well as cut their way free (those trapped) from Rowan’s Entangle spell. From the second cliff up, Aredhel hurled another Fireburst spell down into the already mess and scattered more fire in all directions, setting a few others ablaze. Near the base of the slope by the road, Elmo and Ophelia continued to hold their own, dispatching one of the two pit bulls attacking them. The two skeletons here slashed and cut as well. Albert called for another summons, getting a goblin to appear and she had “Ronnie” the goblin throw himself at Gremag, Rannos’ thin and well groomed second in command.

Rannos and his 3 drew closer to the base of the slope, cutting and hitting the skeletons – one of them fell. Arrows flew about, Furd getting pegged. The bard was free and strumming hard, calling, “You might as well, Jump! Jump! Jump!” and two of the mercenaries leapt up the 15’ and ran to the half-ogre, cutting and stabbing. Elmo smacked the last pit bull in the face, making it howl at being hit and then running away. Captain Charles and his 2 men came down the slope to support Elmo and Ophelia. Rowan and Hamburger tried to climb over the cliff and down but he slipped off and the two of them rolled down the embankment and flailed at the bottom, dazed but ok. The Bard then fired a flare at Aredhel to blind her. “Blinded by the light! Revved up like a deuce a nuhnun nuhnun hunhun night!”

Pestle fired off a 4 count swath of magic missiles from her wand at Rannos Davi, each one cracking with a spray of sparks and fire. More of the men cut themselves free. Arrows continued to rain about from both sides. One of the skeletons faded away and Albert summoned a zombie to help us. The goblin continued to engage 3 of Rannos’ men, military fork stabbing and slashing.

Albert went down the slope to get closer and Pestle shot off her own spell of magic missiles. Gremag got the ok from Rannos and the thug used a poisoned dagger, thrusting it hard at Captain Charles, the Fighter gasping as he fell over, badly hurt and dying. He needed to be healed and soon or he was doomed to die horribly. Choking and gasping, he spit up some dark blood and waved the rest of his men on to face Rannos.

More people cut themselves free and Aredhel shot off a sleep spell at the bard, knocking him out. Arrows flew and Furd hit one of the guys, cutting him in half, before turning about and cleaving into the next one, killing him off. Another one climbed the cliff and assaulted Rowan and the bull. Albert hurled a knife into the fight and Elmo’s battle axe smashed another mercenary to death. Ophelia danced around with her sword, Grace, dropping a heal on Captain Charles who managed to fight off the secondary effects of the poison.

More and more of Rannos’ people were getting free and the group was massing up, swinging and firing. More arrows and missiles fired and then Rannos Davi went down with a scream. As he hit the ground, his body boiled away to a black sludge and the party was like…Whoa! WHOA! They started to back up the slope, fighting a retreating battle. Gremag grabbed his poison dagger and thrust it at Elmo, cutting the ranger but he managed to make a save and avoid the poison effects.

Furd finished off the last of the mercenaries on our level and went to where Rowan and Hamburger were cleaning up on their end. Rowan got shot again but stayed with it. Ophelia had run back to the top level where she, Pestle, Aredhel and Albert were discussing plans. They could see Rowan and Hamburger go over the ledge, the bull charging the nearest mercenaries. It knocked one aside and then trampled a second one to death. The druid was getting hit, Furd was there.

And the area where Rannos had been killed split open and a Hellmouth opened up. A 7’ tall burning red demonic figure emerged and those mercenaries closest to it were overwhelmed with joy. “Rapture! The compact! Come and kill!” Fuck, and fuck.

We ran off and back, racing to the top as the demonic figure shuffled forward and slaughtered Sergeant Scorlis. Pestle fired off a 4 count of magic missiles at the demon and we were talking about new plans. “Rowan! Furd! Come back!”

Rowan and Hamburger tried to climb the sloping earth but the druid slipped back and fell down where he was stuck and hit again – this time, killing him. Aredhel could see there was almost no time left so she told her brother goodbye and then ran, armor class to the wind. She managed to keep her feet on the first slope and ran loping forward, the demon charging up the hill and Elmo’s axe having no effect on the foul figure. She took the next slope and fell on Rowan who had slipped to -3 hp. Furd ran down the hill and Hamburger tried to block some arrows before Aredhel called to Hades and managed to pump a cure spell into the druid, getting him back to positive.

Albert and Pestle had a plan. Albert passed a magic dagger to Elmo while the two wizards swapped staves and magic wands. He also read off the Protect from Demons spell, firing it on Elmo who was able to stand his ground finally with the Demon. More magic missiles fired and the demon was starting to blow away, fading in and out. Ophelia came back down with Grace and the rest of the group at the road finally killed the last of the mercenaries. They ran to the Hellmouth, Aredhel leading the way. The sorceress was able to tell that something was coming out of the mouth and it needed to be closed. “Ophelia!? Can you do it!?”

Pestle cranked up her staff of striking to 3 and had a mirror image on herself, hoping to square off with the demon. Elmo stabbed at it, enchanted knife scoring deep. More missiles flew and the Demon picked up Elmo after getting furious, being unable to hit him, and hurled him to the side where he hit with a bone jarring crunch. It then slayed Captain Charles and continued to step up.

An Imp like demon burst out next to the Hellmouth, 5’ tall, winged and stinking. Furd, Rowan, and Aredhel engaged it, two of them grappling with it, twisting the wings to keep it from flying up and away. The Demon popped one of Pestle’s images, and then did it again to another – leaving the gnome with a single image left. She meanwhile was swinging and the staff was popping and hissing – but she could not connect – until she did. The concussive blast was like a crack of thunder and it blew most of the demon apart – forcing it to draw the ragged bits back together long enough for Albert to finish it off with a burst of magic missiles.

The Hellmouth slammed closed as the Demonic faded away – the Imp trapped on the wrong side – and the group then hacked, slashed, and even snaked (thanks to Rowan’s staff) the thing until it fell over dead.

Over – Hommlet was free. With the help of the council, we spent a few days helping to talk to the locals and set things right. We had gone off to the Moathouse where they found Peri and his men trapped in the cells in the basement area. We freed them and then going into the last of the two hidden rooms, took all the weapons and armor out of it, the Captain of the watch seriously appreciative to the party.

The thought was that we would go to Nulb, a town about a day and a half from here up the High Road. Once there we would have a chance to meet with the Viscount’s representative and explain what we did, Many members of the town supporting the group's actions and activities. We each got a large stipend of coins as thanks and our share and eventually with Elmo’s company arrived at Nulb.

3 times the size of Hommlet, Nulb was home to maybe 1200 people in a cleared area on the northern end of the Gnarley Forest. We were introduced to the Mayor, an elected figure of middling years named Merydis with an interest in his own voice and a strange fleshy lipped smile. He mentioned that the town was considered to be theirs for the time being and they should make use of the Guild Hall here while they await the Viscount’s representative to arrive – they had about 3 weeks time. Enough time to formally train up, gather some studies and supplies, and more importantly – rest after a ridiculous 14 days.

Meet 43, Adv 10, 2/4/23

Every so often I use up the entire table to a layout, and this time we made a canyon system with about 4 shelves worth of paperbacks turned in such a way to make it appear as rock wall. 16 rounds of combat eventually ensued and the party managed to escape. Very cool night

Follows:

At the entrance we took our time and reviewed the map, noting roughly that we would have to rough it for some time in order to make our way eventually back to Thak and then IronCamp. Some hunting hawks were out, flying high over the ravines when Gryg frowned and looked around. The ranger was unsure of the hawks’ actual presence and even after waiting a while – did not see any of them flying around. When pressed about it, he said the cries were not echoes bouncing into the ravine, but originated actually in the ravine. We looked around for some time but didn’t see anything.

Not confident we went over many ideas until eventually settling on a plan where Wilhelm would force a fog cloud maybe 50’ up the ravine and over the entrance to Herodotus’ cave, allowing us the chance to get out and make our way northward. He called on Frey and set it above, blocking a portion of the ravine from being easily seen. And then the group went down the talus slope and moved on.

It was a short distance to the “Y” intersection and the party approached with care, where we heard and could see a 15 count of kobolds running our way. They had rough clothing and bits or armor, a third had slings, another third had javelins, and the last third were just tooth and claw. Connal was in the front and took the barrage of stones hurled his way, the monk dodging, ducking, leaping, and flicking them out of the way. He even saved Eoghan from getting hit with a well placed out thrust of his arm.

We closed to combat range swiftly, flatbows firing and swords slashing. The slingers moved a bit to the side to allow more room for the melee kobolds to approach. When able to, they fanned out, grouping up on the party 3 to a person if possible. Connal continued to block the hurled stones as well as ply his weapon on the K’Morat kobolds. Gryg’s shots were digging in deep and a few times, our blows were hitting with lethal instances. A few errant shots and thrusts didn’t make all one sided, but the kobold enemy were getting denuded. And then the kobolds on the walls of the ravine – 70’ up and 6 of them, fired down into the party, picking off hit points here and there where able. Dizzy, Wilhelm, and Grendel swapped over to shooting the kobolds sniping down at us.

While this was going on, the druid could hear more kobolds running our way, this time from the south passage. Another 12 at least. Frontari had been ripping one of the kobolds apart (with Louie the cat helping out for the heck of it) when Wilhelm called them back. Gryg did the same with Carca and Grendel drew up the other way as well. A volley of stones hit us as the other 8 kobolds ran up for melee. We were now in 2 battle lines, Connal and Eoghan trying to clean up the front of it, Gryg shooting into the fight, and the rest of the group facing the rear approach.

The kobolds above were slowly withering away, pegged by some good shooting by Dizzy and hit flatbow. Connal finally reached the slingers and with Eoghan and Grin, were digging in there, weapons slicing and tearing. A shield splintered, and then another one. Grin got smashed in the snout, the wolfhound turned and ran away, sprinting back to the dragon’s cave for now.

As the last of the melee from the south were taken out, Grendel had his sword out and was racing to kill off the slingers there. Wilhelm sent off Frontari to do the same (again, Louie ran along), everyone firing arrows all over the place.

And then a 3rd wave of kobolds ran at us, 16 more from the north now. These were better armed and armored, and sporting shields and stone and flint axes. We had a minute or two to be ready to face them and the party turned again, lining up to face the next foes. Gryg was once more a deadly force with his flatbow and Dizzy shot the last sniper off the ravine wall.

The kobolds hit and hit hard, Eoghan taking a number of blows that had the ranger reeling. Dizzy was right there, healing spells firing off, bringing Eoghan back to a decent health. Grendel hit the two slingers on the west side of the south ravine with a springing flash of dancing sword strokes and hacking cuts, felling one of the slingers and then the other. Meanwhile Frontari the mountain lion killed off one and a well placed arrow from Wilhelm killed the other. Cursing, Grendel swapped to his bow and started running back to the party.

Connal was sweeping and stabbing, dropping any kobold that stood still long enough for him to strike. Eoghan was using Dawnblade and even Jessie was joining in the fight, the rabbit getting more brazen and vicious with each exchange, leaping 3, 4, even 5 feet if need be to rip, tear, bite, and shred anyone the ranger was fighting as well. Carca was bowling kobolds down left and right and Gryg was a never ending barrage of bolts.

The kobolds had broken up to 3 main groups and were forcing the bow wielders to swap to swords and axes. We were still holding on; hit points fading here and there a bit at a time. Dizzy was healing where he could but we needed every flatbow and arrow in the fight.

And then the last wave came from the eastern ravine. Maybe 15 more of them, one of them in headdress and fetishes, and an oversized Dire wolf and finally, an 11’ long panther creature with 2 huge 10’ long tentacles on its back – shimmering like a mirage. Fucking hell, a displacer beast!

With barely a minute to get in place, we tried to finish up the kobolds we were fighting. Gryg shot one at 20’ and it splintered its shield, but the blow was so exact and deadly, that the missile still ripped through the wreckage of the shield and killed it dead. Eoghan whistled to Grin to return and the wolfhound was running out, racing from the cave back to us. More healing was given out and once closer, Grendel went back to firing arrows at any kobold he could find.

They hit us hard, the ranger briefly separated from the party as a kobold blocked his way. Then the dire wolf climbed up the ravine to a ledge area and jumped down in order to bury the ranger. But it slipped and fell instead, sliding to a stop near the base. Bows were fired and shields were being consumed at a massive rate. The Shaman took aim at Gryg and fired off a shatter spell, ripping his flatbow apart. The dwarven ranger growled, taking out his spare one.

Connal took a series of hits and then the monastic leapt up and climbed the ravine wall until he could reach the Shaman, where the two of them slammed together, twisted about, and then fell off the ravine and down to the ground again, punching, gouging, twisting, and yelling. The K’Morat shaman whistled for the Dire Wolf who ran from Eoghan to scramble up the ravine wall. To return the favor, Connal throat punched the kobold, and then jammed his thumb into its eye and his middle finger into its ear!

The Displacer Beast was slamming its tentacles about, hitting and smashing the group. Carca got walloped and Dizzy used a cure minor to get it up again. One of the kobolds tried to climb the wall but slipped down and was killed by the group. Frontari and Louis were running all over, hitting whatever K’Morat they could get. Using a stone axe, one of them struck out at Eoghan right at his weapon arm but the ranger splintered his shield, staving off losing ANOTHER limb! Wilhelm bathed the Displace Beast in Fairy Fires making the next arrows by Grendel hit true.

One of the K’Morat was trying to help the shaman but ended up hitting the kobold leader, and the Dire Wolf again fell off the ravine with a misshaped roll and fell to the ground in a mess of limbs and howls.

And then Carca was slain, followed by Gryg, both of them falling under the press of axes and beast. Eoghan was hit again and Grin was staggering. And the Beast sauntered forward. Dizzy tried to hold his ground, casting a cure moderate spell at the dwarven ranger, bringing him back to the positive side of life. Gryg remained there, playing possum as the Displacer Beast stalked over his prone form to attack the dwarven cleric. And Dizzy was hit and walloped, going down to 2 hit points.

Scrabbling at his side, he yelled for the party, “Get here! Get here now! We’re leaving!” Rolling and grappling about, Connal once more took control of the fight with the Shaman and blinded him in the other eye, smashing his head to the ground until he stopped moving. Bleeding and hurt very bad, the monastic rose to his feet and ran to Dizzy who pulled out a scroll from his pouch and was reading it. Gryg fired up at point blank into the Beast’s guts and swung and hacked as best they could as Dizzy finished the last words of the spell and in a 10’ circle about him, super heated plasma shot out, scoring a hole in the universe; and ripped a passage from here to somewhere else.

In doing so, we also grabbed the Displacer Beast and two kobolds that were in line of the spell. We raced haphazardly through the Ethersphere and slammed full on in a broken rippling wave almost 60 miles away back on the front lawn of his mother’s home in IronCamp. However, we didn’t run through the dimensional folding cleanly and a temporal storm came with us – aging everyone and all their equipment forward 1 year in time. Hair, nails, body – everything was 1 year forward. The shock of it was too much for the Displacer Beast who was stunned by the impact of it, allowing the party to pour on their attacks against it – and Eoghan finished the fight with a well placed critical blow killing the Beast outright. As the watch was running over, we took little time to finish off the last 2 kobolds and then breathing hard in the glassy cracked crater of burned stone and charred grasses, smiled slowly at not only facing off against 3 score of kobolds and their bestial minions – but escaping alive (if VERY badly wounded) after doing so.

Youth Group! TOEE - Meet 21, 2/1/23

The party took some time to talk out the crazy amount of things they had been through the last almost 3 weeks while they wandered their way slowly down the stairs to what Captain Charles had identified as Burne’s room. It was on the 3rd floor, opposite Rufus’. We entered and with care and some searching , was able to find a few items of interest, Burne’s spell book, and more importantly – the party’s spell books as well.

Some other treasures were gathered up and we did a detect magic, splitting up some wands, chimes, daggers, and rings as well. It had been some time so Albert and Pestle wanted to get on with studying right now, knowing they needed about 3 hours to get their spells up and in place. This left the rest of the party to head down with the Captain and Sergeant to the basement and sub basement levels. There, they talked down the 3 guards still here and got them to understand that Burne was no more – and was the actual bad guy in all of this.

From here we helped free Auva, Ostler, Mytch, and Jaroo. We caught them up on what’s going on and they gave us their support back. Jaroo healed us up closer to full and we worked on a variety of plans. We wanted to lure Rannos and his men here. The thought was that Auva would go to the top of the tower, stand up on the turret and address Hommlet as to what was going on. Two of Captain Charles’ men would go up with the town elder, keep him safe, and if possible, shoot down into Rannos’ men when and if they arrive.

The rest of us drew ourselves down to the outside and set up on 3 different levels, using the fading fog and the terrain to block any easy sight. Once in place, Auva began yelling out, extolling to the populace of “Rannos’s treachery! The adventurers from Verboncac are good! Evil is neight and here in Hommlet! Fight and resist!”

We could hear that it was having an effect as townsfolk were rebelling and shouting. Rannos’ mercenaries were putting them down with club and sword. Then Rannos himself drew everyone together and enmasse, a group of 20 of them with a pair of pit bulls on chains, marched down main street, past the woodcutters, and were making a hard bee line for the tower.

It was time.

Our guys on the tower fired down into Rannos’ men, picking a few and wounding them. They tried to return fire but their arrows were erratic. Aredhel’s sleep spell shot out, dropping 4 of them. Pestle hurled a Molotov cocktail into the mix of them. Rowan entangled them from the grasses, vines, and plants in the area.

They split up, some charged up to us, one tried to scale the hill to get to Rowan. Furd emerged with heads on sticks, over 7’ tall furious half ogre and the mercenary ran off instead. The dogs were released and Albert summoned a skeleton to slow them down. Elmo and Ophelia were ready to receive the canines as Rannos and a few others ran closer. More arrows were fired about and Rannos’ group were trying to get free, taking to cutting the plants and vines. Aredhel fireburst the flames there, spread it , and Pestle hoopaked another Molotov cocktail into the mix, spreading more flames.

Ophelia and Elmo were trying to make short work of the dogs when Albert summoned another skeleton to help finish them off.

I know- stopping in mid combat!