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Kaveman26
2016-10-14, 05:02 PM
House Rules:
No Flying
No Ressurection
No Summon Monster
No Teleport
No Wind Walk, Air Walk, or other Aerial Travel Spells.



Character Creation:
30 Point Buy
Allowed Classes: Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Paladin, Monk, Ninja, Samurai, Bard
Starting Level 6: Capped at level 6
2 Bonus Feats granted at level 6
Starting Equipment: 1 MW weapon, 1 MW armor, 1 weapon, 250 gold as seen fit to spend as a group.

The Premise:

Exactly 99 years, nine months and nine days ago the world was shattered. All auspices of civilization and peace obliterated in the blink of an eye. Those whose abilities and powers once created marvels and enabled impossibilities were destroyed. In the following century the world was wrought with chaos and madness. Forces beyond mortal and immortal control ravaged the landscape forever altering the balance of power.

A single island, isolated and sheltered from the world at large endured. A barrier protecting it from the maelstrom beyond. This barrier the product of an age long lost is failing. When the century rings true and the 100th year is marked the barrier will fall, and the last vestige of humanity and brotherhood will become vulnerable to the savagery of what now is.

A small band of the strongest, cleverest, and boldest has united in a desperate quest to traverse a foreign continent. Their task is critical and their window for success narrow. A focusing gemstone, a diamond of perfect brilliance, will sustain and renew the barrier for a new century, but the path is long and the map unclear. Forty days and forty nights is the currency allotted to this band to retrieve this diamond. Forty days and forty nights more to return it and renew the majesty that is their hope of a continued peace. The expected destination is 1,000 miles west. Which means a 2,000 mile round trip in eighty days.

Some bits we digested from the initial premise:

*Assuming a standard eight hour overland speed at the standard ratio (avoiding difficult terrain) and a normal 30 feet per round movement speed, we would log 24 miles per day, or 960 miles one way.

*Horses with a movement rate of 40 feet per round pushes us to 32 miles per day or 1280 miles. So we could in theory slog in on foot if we get good terrain and hustle every so often, but mounts with a movement speed better than 30 will make a big difference.

*A survival check DC 10 lets a person feed and water themselves, with each 2 above the 10 mark you can feed one additional person. With a six person group a skill check of 20 means everyone eats free for that day, but it costs us half the movement speed of person foraging. To come out “ahead” we need to get three days of provisions from one day’s worth of foraging. So that means multiple foragers need to provide enough goods for a three day period in one day. Quick and dirty math says a level 6 ranger with max ranks and a halfway decent Wisdom has (6 ranks+2 wis+3+3 trained skill bonus ranger class level) a +14 skill check which means he can sustain the whole party everyday on his own more than fifty percent of the time.

*Buying all the rations we need ahead of time means carrying loads becomes an issue and our meager initial budget gets chewed up.

*We are getting a crude general map that may or may not be very accurate.

*For DM convenience purposes (everything he has planned is overland) we are ruling out attempts to go nautical.

*Healing is actually a big concern for us. No cleric, no druid, no oracle, limited access through paladin and bard provides our sources of magical heals. Downtime is a big factor for a campaign where the timeframe is a limiting factor. We also have little in the way of stat recovery.

The New Crew:

Galen Stormaxe:Dwarf ranger str 18 dex 16 con 16int 14 wis 16 cha 5
1st: two weapon fighting
2nd rbf: double slice
3rd point blank shot
5th precise shot
6th rbf: greater two weapon fighting
Bf1 boon companion
Bf2 combat reflexes

Carrying Capacity: Light 100 Heavy 300
Equipment:
Masterwork Chain Shirt 25lbs
Masterwork Composite Longbow (+4 str) 3lbs
Dwarven Waraxe 8lbs
Dagger 1lb

Murgaltov: Gillman sorcerer elemental cold str 10 con 18 dex 12 int 10 wis 16 cha 18
1st spell focus evocation
3rd greater spell focus evocation
5th elemental focus cold
Bf1 greater elemental focus cold
Bf2 Combat casting

Carrying Capacity Light 33

Equipment:
Masterwork Light Crossbow 4lbs
Dwarven War Axe 8lbs
Masterwork Leather Barding For Dwarf Horse

1st: Burning Hands, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Mount, Mage Armor
2nd: Scorching Ray, Bears Endurance, Spider Climb, Web
3rd: Phantom Steed


Willow Ashhaft: Human barbarian str 18 dex 16 con 16 int 10 wins 14cha 8
Human BF power attack
1st cleave
3rd greater cleave
5th improved sunder
Bf1 vital strike
Bf2 combat reflexes

Carrying Capacity Light 100
Masterwork Greatsword 8lbs
Composite Longbow (+4str) 3lbs
Masterwork Chain Shirt 25lbs

Musan:Half elf monk (unchained variant)
str 20 dex 16 con 14 int 10 wis 14 cha 8
HEBF: composite longbow
1st improved initiative
1st mbf combat reflexes
2nd combat expertise
2nd mbf scorpion style
3rd dodge
5th mobility
6th mbf improved trip
6th BF spring attack
6th BF whirlwind attack

Carrying Capacity: 133
Masterwork Composite Longbow (+5 str) 3lbs
Chained Kama 5lbs



Mist-StalkerHobogoblin zen archer 1/rogue 3/ ninja 1/ assassin 1 str 16 dex 18 con 18 int 10 wis14 cha 8
1st point blank shot
1st perfect shot
Monk feat dodge
3rd precise shot
5th rapid shot
6th Fleet
6th Fleet

RT: weapon focus longbow

Carrying Capacity: 76
Masterwork Composite longbow (+3 str) 3lbs
Rapier 3lbs


Lennix:Human bard arcane duelist 5 Barbarian 1 str 16dex 14 con 14 int 10 wins 14 cha 18
HBF 1st power attack
1st point blank shot
3rd precise shot
3rd BBF combat casting
5th cleave
6th expanded arcana
6th II
6th Disruptive

Carrying Capacity: 76
Masterwork Composite Longbow (+3 str) 3lbs
Rapier 3lbs
Masterwork Chain Shirt 25lbs


ClW, Grease, ER, Animate Rope
Blur,Delay poison, CMW, Invisibiliity

Group Equipment:
400 Arrows 120lbs 20GP
50 Crossbow Bolts 5lbs 5GP
Waterskin x6 24lbs 6GP
100 Feet Silk Rope 20lbs 10GP
6 Backpack 12lbs 12GP
6 Bedrolls 24lbs .6GP
2 grappling hooks 8lbs 2GP
Iron Pot 4lbs .4GP
480 Trail Rations 480Lbs 24GP
747lbs 80GP

Artisan’s Tools 5lbs 5GP
6 Spears 36lbs 12GP
5 Daggers 5lbs 10GP
3 Shortbows 6lbs 90GP
1 Greataxe 12lbs 20GP

5 Sacks 5lbs .5GP
Yak 25GP
200lbs of feed 1sp


Galen Stormaxe, Dwarf Ranger:

A brawny and somber woodsman at the peak of his middle years. Surly by cultural tradition remarkably compassionate by action. Spent the majority of his years in the thick of the island’s untamed terrain. The areas outside of town are unstable and prone to erratic circumstance, something Galen is all too familiar and experienced with. Never far from his horse or his bow he is an expert tracker and scout. Doc’s new character

Murgaltov Gillman Sorcerer:

The last of his race, his family now returned to the waves, his small clan hid in the rocks and tidal pools just narrowly protected by the island’s barrier, older and slightly unhinged he volunteered for a chance to leave the world and perhaps locate some other surviving members of his species. Hades new character

Willow Ashhaft-Human Barbarian:

His family and their relatives live on the edge of the communitys border, a part of the town and also apart from them. He is the running three time champion in the town’s annual log splitting and sparring competitions and his reputation with a greatsword is unparalleled in the town. Middle height and dark hair dark eyes. Pluto new character

Musan-Half Elf Monk (Unchained)

An agile powerhouse of speed and strength. Craves a good challenge and lives for situations where he is outnumbered. A bit reckless given his level of discipline. Bad joke teller. Ares new character

Mist-Hobogoblin Zen Archer/Rogue/Ninja/Assassin
An outsider and perhaps last of the island’s true natives. A very cynical and ruthless fighter who excels at stealth and ambush. One of the few islanders with knowledge of poison’s and their applications. My new character

Lennix-Human Bard (Arcane Duelist):

An absolute showman. Complete blowhard and Snake Oil Salesman persona. Azzie’s new character

Seraphim’s Player is the DM for this campaign.

Day 1-Down and Dirty

The island is mostly uninhabited. A central town with some nearby farms and homesteads are the only civilized territory. The majority of the island is wild and erratic with strange magical and supernatural occurences. Emanating from a LightHouse Tower on the coast is a shield that protects the island from outside influences and calamity. The further from that lighthouse one travels the less protected one becomes.

A small assembly of monks, and scholars has tracked and attempted to decipher the full workings of the tower and discern the notations left behind. They have pinpointed that the focusing diamond at the center of the tower is failing. If it is not replaced in due time the barrier will fall and this last refuge of civilization will become vulnerable. It is from this position that a call to arms and expedition is sounded. They seek six volunteers to venture forth and locate the replacement diamond.

As the barrier has failed so too have the crops and stores which sustain the township. All resources are stretched remarkably thin and the allowance of 250GP which we were given as a group represents a sacrifice from the town that puts them on the brink of starvation. Anything they provide to us is leaving them hungry, unarmed or freezing. So our success is paramount. Should we elect to take the full eighty days worth of trail rations we are basically bankrupting the town’s reserves for winter.

If we don’t take them and foraging causes us to miss the window they could just as surely die. The scholars who oversee the tower provide a map that should give us a means to reach our destination. In essence we are faced with a few tough choices right out of the gate. For geographic intents think of our island community as Cuba and the main coast is Florida. After a brief open water crossing we will be faced with immediate thick forest and eventually mountain passes. Through the woods and over the hills we will face an open terrain, further mountains and our eventual destination a valley beyond the second mountain range. There are three main paths we can use to reach the valley.

Path 1: The High Road

A straight line path directly from the coast at shortest distance to the Valley. Takes us over two mountain ranges with rough terrain. Shortest distance…highest probability of impossible terrain.

Path 2: The River Run

We follow a river through the first mountain pass and then use it to bypass the second range, A longer path by 150 miles but less chance of getting caught in a mountain pass with no way through.

Path 3: The Desert Marathon

With this option we make landfall further south and then have to skirt the edges of the first mountain and take a long flat path through seemingly endless desert.

Our initial group huddle rules out the desert path. We anticipate supplies being a problem as such a big deal is being made out of them before we even take the first steps. So discussions mostly center around the High Road or the River.

Galen: We know the map is unreliable and where the passes are marked for the mountains could be wrong. A river is a river even if it has dried out or diverted there is the shell of the bed to follow. If we make a good raft then we travel all day and all night. Alternate taking turns to rest and we can make more progress by raft then even by horse.

Murgaltov: If the raft shatters in rapids, or is broken by lizardmen then we are back to walking and now the long way.

Musan: If a horse is eaten by giants, or has it’s legs shattered by falling rocks we are back to being on foot and stuck in the mountains. Rather be stuck near the river than in a mountain.

Mist: Depending on the geography near the river we can have Murgal on a summoned mount and Galen on his actual horse scouting ahead on either side, give us a chance to avoid things like rapids, and maybe a heads up for raiders too. Harder to range ahead in a narrow mountain pass.

Willow: I am for the river. Hopefully we can construct a raft or most of a raft while taking the trip across the bay. Don’t want to burn what time we do have on boatcrafting. Still need to figure out a way to lug all the gear we need while maintaining an adequate pace. Horses are expensive and a decent light horse can carry about 225, we have 480lbs in rations alone.

Lennix: We are going to need more than that….we need to feed the animals too. Every horse we take will need 800 pounds of feed for trip.

Mist: Carrying 800 pounds of feed negates any benefit from taking them as a source of storage. Then we are back to the foraging problem.

Willow: Can we disperse everything and keep the whole party under light capacity?

Murgaltov: Not counting our weapons and armor we are looking at 900+lbs of gear and we can carry a shade over 700 without going to heavy capacity. So frankly no. We need at least one beast of burden and a means to feed it.

Galen: Then we need to press the Yhaldun family to give up one of their Yak’s.

Musan: A yak?

Galen: Long haired filthy smelling beast, strong as hell though and not too picky on it’s diet. They can carry shade over 1,000 pounds on their own. One Yak can carry enough to feed itself for a few weeks plus our heavier garbage. Should reduce our foraging dependence.

Murgaltov: We can take it one step further. We can deposit caches with supplies for the return trip that we can come back to. If we lose the Yak halfway through or run into any incidents we have reserves to come back to.

Mist: And if the caches are stolen?

Murgaltov: Then we are back to foraging. We at least have contingencies and failsafes though.


So the gameplan is to make landfall in near the delta of a river system that will run through the first mountain pass and bypass the second it lengthens the journey from 1,000 miles to 1150, but the hope is that overnight 24/7 river travel will let us make up the difference. We also all have a base movement of 40ft or better provided Galen is mounted. So we can make 32 miles a day under normal conditions. We expect a day or two through swampier terrain, followed by more of an open river route.

With provisions distributed, a Yak press ganged into service for the greater good and a small vessel to bring us ashore we set out to reach the Diamond Valley and explore the strange and unpredictable unknown. As the glorified fishing boat, bursting at the seams with adventurers and a throat gagging yak reach the landing spot, the water is unnaturally still and fetid. The brackish water is greenish brown and amplifies the stink of the hairy beast.

As the unloading process is begun a swarm of mosquitoes closer in size to small birds begin to buzz around us. The fact that they are flying formation and scouting us in organized patterns is immediately alarming. None makes an attempt to land…they simply fly in sync and watch us before returning to the thick reeds at the water front. The raft is the last thing unloaded and by the time we get it fairly well loaded it is immediately apparent the water is too boggy and shallow, our Yak and gear are weighing it down too much. We end up slogging the majority of the gear and put the Yak by herself on the raft as we end up pulling the damn thing ourselves in an effort to reach deeper water that won’t run ashore with the added weight of the group.

A healthy dose of grumbling is meted out as we become the workhorses pulling the raft. Galen and Murgaltov set off on their animal companion and summoned mounts respectively to patrol and scout ahead. As we grit in and try to get out of the boggy river mouth the mosquito swarm rises up from the weeds once again and this time splits into five separate squadrons. Each battalion dive bombs an individual party member and then pulls up at the last second to swerve away. The fifth group seems to vanish. No one feels a thing. Musan ends up doing a touch check of his back and neck and pulls out a tiny almost needle like dart. It is very small and hollow…the apparent whittled spine from a sea urchin, he passes it to my character Mist who sniffs and sighs.

Mist: Poison…mild naturally occurring numbing agent. Very similar to what a normal mosquito secrets when drawing blood from a target, this is a bit more potent and fast. Nothing that will harm us so to speak, but the fact that mosquitos have organized and weaponized sea urchin spines is scary.

A second dive bomb occurs…this time they swarm everyone in a frenzy and then dissipate. Musan thinks they actually came back to remove the darts this time, as he had felt at least three but all three are now gone.

As we shout back to each other over the river Willow gestures to the yak…we see the fifth missing battalion of mosquitos rise up from the beast and fly off. They had landed and hidden amidst the hair…hair that has now been cut away to leave a message in the shorn fur…

TRSPASR LEAF

Lennix: I think it should be spelled Leave.

Willow: Don’t criticize the mosquitoes spelling.

Mist: We should try communicating. “WE ARE TRYING TO LEAF!”

Musan: IF YOU COULD POINT TO THE FASTEST WAY THROUGH THE SWAMP THAT WOULD BE GREAT. WE WILL HAPPILY LEAVE YOU ALONE.

A great buzzing sound comes in response, followed by a larger swarm revisiting the Yak. A flurry of buzzing wings and a whirring sound like hair clippers precedes a new message shaved into the Yak’s other side.

SNDBAR IN WAY LEAD TO FASE

We assume SNDBAR is a sandbar and FASE might be a pidgin of SAFETY, we weren’t sure how to exactly translate mosquito.

Mist: GALEN! MURGAL! WE NEED YOU BACK!

The ranger and sorcerer come back after some short minutes and reconvene with us.

Galen: Mosquitos? Like flying blood suckers? And we are listening to them?

Lennix: Seems like they are trustworthy. Better than a lawyer at least, they don’t bother to numb you before taking your blood.

A twisted pathway sees us straining to drag our Yak on a Raft along as we trail a swarm of mosquitoes deeper into the bayou/swamp. It is unnervingly quiet and still. After several hours and a great deal of effort we arrive at a fetid bog where a host of forty pound bull frogs adorned in crude bone armor circle a tree stump. From the tree stump emerges a long serpentine figure with a woman’s face. Her scales seem to shine with an unnatural light and we estimate her to be at least fifteen feet long. A salamander scurries from the roots of the tree with a piece of bark holding several of the mosquito’s urchin spines.

She assesses our group from a distance, something we are perfectly fine with as virtually everyone is an archer. She sways from side to side silently examining us and finally she speaks in a clear and legible voice.

Naga: No creature with blood such as yours has come to these lands in decades? Why do you seek to invade us?

Lennix: We are not invaders, simply travelers. We mean no harm and seek no insult, simply a way to the wider river so that we may follow it’s route to the mountains west of here.

Naga: That way is too dangerous. Return to the shore and seek a different path. We can’t risk your presence.

Willow: Time is vital for us. Returning to the shore and taking a different path is something we can’t afford to do. What dangers await? And how are you concerned for our well being if you have never seen us before?

Naga: I don’t worry myself with your lives only your body fat. You are large and meaty all of you and the Sandbar is desperate. We are in a precarious position and if you end up a meal to him that will tip the balance against us.

Mist: Uhm…a sandbar can eat us? Are we talking about the same thing? A rise in the riverbed where a ship or boat can run aground?

Naga: Sandbar is the name we have given to the crocodile who chokes off Lake Taupau from the rest of the swamp. Alone we kept a tense truce to keep peace. Last fall a female, still too young to breed, arrived and together they have abandoned the truce and begun a full scale takeover of our home. We have worked tirelessly to shut off their access to food and attempt to force them out. If they manage to acquire a significant meal she will soon mature to the point of bearing eggs and if those eggs hatch we are done for. I can’t risk you finding a way into the crocodile or his soon to be mate’s belly. That is why you must leave this territory immediately.

Musan: We could assist you in overpowering this crocodile. Better to eliminate him for certain than chance his leaving.

Naga: You trying to kill Sandbar is little different than you being eaten. The end result is the same.

Mist: What would you do if it attacked you right here and right now? You would have to fight. If we are the ones taking the first attack we will be better prepared for success. Only now you have added assistance.

Naga: My battletoads and I will accompany you to the Lake. Perhaps in unison we can succeed, in driving off the beast.

Galen: Battletoads *snicker*

We hesitantly leave the Yak and the better part of our supplies behind and follow a company of armor laden frogs and the Naga to Lake Taupau.

Galen: Where does the reptile normally hide? I know they are tricky buggers and hard to spot.

Naga: He frequents the center of the lake.

Galen: Near that island?

Naga: He isssss the island.

As one we focus a bit closer on the “island” sitting at the center of a small lake.

Murgaltov: That has to be sixty feet from snout to tail…maybe bigger.

Galen: Where is the mate? The Sheila?

Naga: We don’t know.

Mist: How far from the edge of the bank to the croc itself? I mark it about 200 feet.

Galen: Seems about right.

Mist: Might be able to get two or even three volleys off before it reaches the shoreline.

Lennix: That is a big lizard. Not sure that even that many arrows will hurt it.

Murgaltov holds his action while the rest of us prep for a full volley of bow attacks. Lennix uses a performance for Bladethirst, granting 50 projectiles +1 enhancement bonus for 6 rounds and we loose a full volley of arrows in a hail against the croc. Of approximately 20 arrows, about eight find their mark without glancing off the thick back of the beast. Like a whip crack the “island” snaps into action and begins approaching at a breakneck speed. The Sorcerer hits it with a magic missile as it is nearly upon us within a few seconds. A second volley lands but the pincushion of arrows doesn’t seem to be slowing it much at all.

As Sandbar reaches the shore we all scatter, the frogs burst from cover and make flying headbutt strikes with spiked bone helmets…each attacks once and then retreats to the reeds. The mosquitoes swarm in a dive bomb fly by attack then disperse. The Naga launches her own magic missile and then it is snapping jaws and a whole big pile of angry reptile. Much slower on land everyone tries to shoot from the hip and move out of the way…thick foliage and poor footing make it tricky. Willow abandons bow for greatsword and takes a hearty swing, and as he slashes we catch sight of a smaller but still sizeable crocodile slipping into the water.

Before we can react Sandbar snatches Willow with a lurching bite and the greatsword goes flying as the barbarian is dragged into the shallows for a death roll. Murgal and the Naga both hit it with a second round of magic missiles and we put in another off balance volley of arrows. Willow manages to get free and snatch the dagger from his waist as he tries to pull himself back to the shore, he is in real rough shape though. Galen snaps off an arrow, drops his bow and advances ahead of Willow with both axes drawn. Willow shifts to set up a flank against the crocodile and I put in a rapid shot sneak attack bolstered duo of arrows that find their mark…one penetrating the sweet spot at the base of the skull that puts the lights out against Sandbar. I am rewarded by being dragged beneath the murky water by the female mate where I get taken for a death roll of my own. Willow goes into a rage and throws himself dagger leading to the head of the female dire crocodile. He and Galen manage to distract it enough to get me free and then the female does something unexpected…with a show of strength terrifying she disengages and pulls the corpse of the male into the deeper water where she vanishes from sight.

Naga: That is very bad.

Mist: The Male is dead…she can’t reproduce. We can track her down and finish her off.

As Lennix disperses what meager healing we have available we watch as the pair of crocodiles surface in the middle of the lake. The male is disoriented but very much alive.

Galen: What kind of witchcraft is this?

Naga: Actual witchcraft…the female is a witch. She revived her mate.

Mist: That would have been useful to know before we started.

The two crocodiles circle in the water for a minute then both submerge, we backpedal from the water’s edge and take up perches in the highest trees waiting for them to come up for air. The Female pokes just the tip of her snout out of the water and a hail of arrows, many of which miss falls around her. As the arrows sink into the water the male comes to the surface and the female opens her mouth to reveal a good sized boulder…the male slashes his tail through the water and like a fifty foot long crocodilian Tiger Woods drives the boulder using his tail like a golf club into Galen’s tree…nearly severing the trunk from the force.

Galen: Yikes. Didn’t see that coming.

Mist (in a whisper to Willow): I say we kill the Naga and offer the corpse to the crocodiles for safe passage. I’ll take my chances with the frogs over a witchadile.

Willow: Think you and I can take her in an ambush?

Mist: If I am within 30 feet sure.

The barbarian who has managed to retrieve his greatsword lands the first ambush a full attack and as the sword cuts both air and scale a duo of arrows pierce the Naga’s throat.

Lennix: What the hell was that?

Willow: Alternate Plan.

The barbarian hacks off the head of the naga and holds the body on high.

Willow: We want to talk! This is our offering of good faith.

The female gets within shouting range and in a bit croaky Common asks what we seek.

Willow: You can keep the body and the bodies of any frogs we encounter in return we only want passage through the lake and into the river beyond. Safe passage.

Witch-A-Dile: Return before the sun sets and we will allow you passage through, unmolested so long as you provide us the body of the Naga.

Galen: Could have discussed this before assassinating the Naga, she made no hostile move towards us.

Mist: Not like we have time for diplomacy, we have already damn near burned an entire day and made virtually no progress. Need to get past this crocodile blockade and this was a way of doing it. Made an executive decision.

The slog back to the Naga’s pond is uncomfortable. Mosquitos harass every step of the way and when they arrive back to the pond the Yak is dead and disemboweled. In the course of events they manage to kill four very large bullfrogs which are taken as rations. We end up loading up Galen’s heavy horse with as much as we can get it to carry and Murgaltov summons a Phantom Steed for the slower dwarf to ride. A good chunk of our rations are left behind as a result. On the plus side, most of us can now ride the raft.

The crocodiles hold true to their word and allow us to pass through the lake untouched. The water begins to clear up almost immediately and we begin pushing upstream, but still making much better time. By the end of day 1 we clear a total of 8 miles. Not an inspiring start.

Inevitability
2016-10-15, 09:12 AM
KAVEMAN HAS STARTED A NEW CAMPAIGN LOG! :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

In case you didn't notice, I'm excited. :smalltongue:

Kaveman26
2016-10-15, 11:11 AM
River Living:

The second day we try to put out every possible means to accelerate the journey and make up for lost time. With everyone rowing and a pair of summoned mounts doing their best to aid in pulling us from the sides of the river we start eating up miles. Galen continues to patrol looking for any and all potential threats.

We continue to observe…well disturbing nothing. There is very little wildlife, and virtually no insect noise or bird calls. It becomes a point of concern owing to our now need to eventually forage for food.

Lennix: Mosquitos aside I saw no fish, no turtles, no gnats…nothing. Just the crocodiles, naga and toads.

Willow: I’ve been watching the water for fish and nothing, not even a splash.

Late in the second afternoon we spot a lone squirrel jumping from branch to branch. Almost out of desperation four arrows leap to bowstring as everyone on the raft takes aim for the squirrel who squeaks and drops an acorn throwing his hands into the air.

Squirrel: Don’t shoot!

Musan: The squirrel is talking.

The hesitation is all the opening the furry tailed critter needs as he makes a swan dive from the branch and seems to vanish into the knot of a tree.

Mist: Is it worth stopping the raft to investigate?

Willow: Not for a single squirrel.

Throughout the afternoon we all keep a sharp eye for additional wildlife, bows constantly in hand. Galen and Murgaltov basically report in the same things…no movement, no animals. As dusk approaches there is a shaking in the tree branches hanging over the water’s edge and we see a handful of squirrels watching us from good cover. As we pass them we spot what looks like tiny bows and some kind of rudimentary leather armor. They don’t make any outwardly hostile action but we hear them chittering to themselves….in Common.

Everyone is getting a bit creeped out by this point. As the sun is fully setting we light some crude torches to help with the light…bolstered by cantrips from the bard and sorcerer. A cracking sound alerts us to a large oak tree falling to block off the river. We damn near crash into the falling tree and have to scramble to avoid our raft being swept away. Galen gets a rope to us from the shore and uses his mount to pull us in. As they check for damage and make sure nothing was lost I scan the area for any ambushers then scan the tree.

Mist: There are tool marks on the tree. It was cut down. I think it’s a trap.

Willow: We didn’t see anyone near the tree.

At the faintest edge of the torchlight I barely make out the tiny shape of a stone hatchet.

Mist: Whoever cut down the tree was very small.

From the other nearby trees acorns start tumbling around us. As they hit the ground they begin to smoke…and continue to smoke spitting out thick hazy clouds to block vision. A dozen diminutive voices take up a call and before we can react there are squirrels all over the place…launching bolas at our legs and shooting arrows at our eyes. Everyone is flailing around trying to find a target or stay their feet. A triumphant rodent shout goes up.

Squirrel Raider: JACKPOT BOYS! Fall Back.

Just as fast as they were on us…they are gone. Murgaltov in aggravation launches a magic missile at a fleeing squirrel and it is like a cannon sending the instantly prone body twenty feet in the air. As the smoke clears we find ourselves not too bad off. No one took more than one of damage. Galen is the first one to spot their target.

Galen: Furry little bastards stole some of our rations. Why would a squirrel steal our rations?

Lennix: It is mostly dried nuts, dehydrated fruit and some seeds. Squirrel cuisine.

Musan returns with the deceased squirrel and we examine it more closely. It is wearing crude leather armor, has vambraces from what we are guessing is some kind of bone and a tiny bow with arrows and a few acorn smoke grenades. There is mud and berry stain breaking up the shape to aid in camouflage and there are unmistakably opposable thumbs.

Musan: Squirrel Commando.

Mist: Everything we have encountered so far is intelligent. The crocodiles, the squirrels, the frogs, even the mosquitos.

Lennix: We were told to expect strangeness and irregularities.

Mist: This is beyond irregular.

Galen: They are mostly harmless.

Willow: Until they drop a tree on us instead of in front of us. Or until they slit our throats in our sleep. Coordinated ambushes and weapons implies they are capable of exactly that.

Mist: Let’s get back on the river and keep moving.

We continue on through the night and go unattacked. As dawn cracks we see subtle signs of gathering squirrel forces. Shaking branches and fleeting glimpse of brown fur and the occasional “squeak” that seems out of place in the silence.

Lennix: I think they are organizing for an attack.

Musan: Then let’s give them a reason not to.

The monk goes into his backpack and pulls out a pouch of trail mix he tosses the bag overhand to the shore and repeats the process on the other side. A chittering of excitement goes up on both sides. We see a lasso come from the brush and the bags on each side are dragged from view.

Every hour or so he tosses loose handfuls to either side…expelling three day’s worth of a single PC’s rations. By late afternoon of the third day we see them coming out openly. As dusk approaches we spot the trail ration bag hanging from a branch that hangs over the river, something inside is weighing it down. Willow snags it and checks the contents. There is a note written on some bark.

“Our Wise Ones say it is polite to return Kindness. Here is more of the strange Not Wood you seem to like”

Inside the bag is a brass hinge, a single silver coin, and a magical ring. Murgaltov identifies it as as ring of protection +2. Willow happily accepts it’s use and we salute the mounting darkness and thank the squirrels for their Kindness Returned.

Day 1: 8 Miles
Day 2: 42 Miles
Day 3: 48 Miles

This will be a far shorter overall posting. I think 15-20 Posts in total.

Inevitability
2016-10-15, 12:01 PM
Tucker's squirrels? Yes please.

FocusWolf413
2016-10-15, 12:23 PM
This is going to be fun. Woot woot.

Kaveman26
2016-10-15, 01:53 PM
The Big City:

Day Four goes smoothly. A lone Harpy spots us at once point and it circles us from a great height for most of the day. We take a few pot shots at it from longbows and it eventually goes away on it’s own. As the hours tick by the forest starts to thin out and the ground gets more open. Early in the evening we make the decision to pull up as the territory is changing and as the moon comes out from the clouds we spot what we think might be a city. Camp is made for the night and cautiously tuck in to sleep.

The morning of Day Five confirms our initial suspicion. There is a medium sized town built around the river and outwardly it appears abandoned. Having cleared another 48 miles on day four we figure this is as good a place as any to forage and spend a few hours searching. We pull the raft to the river bank and walk the last several hundred yards into the expanse of town. A sign greets us with:

Welcome To The End of the Rainbow

As we creep along the streets a rocking chair sitting on a porch starts to rock back and forth on it’s own and a taunting chuckle seems to emanate from multiple places at once.

Voice: Awful strange looking folk wouldn’t cha say Liam?

Second Voice: Oh aye Owen, I doubt their kind been seen in these parts for a solid decade.

Lennix: You have the best of us unseen friend. We are travelers. Might we have the honor of seeing our new acquaintances?

Liam: He wants to see us Owen? How’s that for a laugh?

Owen: It’s a real side splitter Liam. Mighten could be we pop out for a pint and a smoke, but not while you are hefting those widowmakers.

Mist: The bows?

Liam: Aye laddie. You got a touch of the goblin in you make no mistake. Just let them find the ground and we will be happy to take in the morning with yer company.

With some hesitance, but charmed by the local twang, we concede and put our bows down…walking away slowly with hands raised. The unoccupied rocking chair is suddenly occupied as a small man in cheerful green with a long grey beard seems to appear. A Puff of smoke reveals a second little old man sitting on an empty barrel as he taps the dregs from his pipe.

Lennix: I’ll be damned Leprechauns.

Liam: Oh you are familiar with us fine folk? Surprises abound eh Owen?

Lennix: Only from story.

Owen: What’s brings you up the Rainbow?

Murgaltov: The river?

Liam: No fooling these boys Owen, aye the river. Around these parts The River is called the Rainbow.

Musan: We come from a island a few hundred miles east of here. Our village tasked us with locating a diamond in a valley far beyond here. Our map is a bit suspect so if you could help us to clarify or correct it’s information…

Owen: Oh a dodgey map is a sure boon for getting lost. Mighten could be that we peep your cartography for the stray miscalculation but we fine folk don’t work for free, nor are we cheap.

Mist: What exactly do you wish for in payment?

Liam: Well if you have heard the stories you certainly most have heard about the pot of gold?

Lennix: Yes…

Owen: Well we got too much pot and not enough gold.

Liam: There is an old saying “aint got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of” we got plenty of pot and lately piss is all we got to fill it. You figure out a way to get us some gold and we will fix you up right.

Galen: You have a lead on where we might find some gold?

Liam: Oh you betcha. See we had ourselves a nice tidy pile of the yellow. Them damned gremlins sodded off with it when we got a little too deep in the bottle. They won’t come this close to the water and we aren’t keen on getting in those creaky old houses to go after them. But some strapping young lads like yourself could give them a taste of the old iron.

We bid the leprechauns good day and give them a wide berth in announcing we are retrieving our widowmakers. Bows firmly back in hand they salute us with their pipes and vanish from sight again.

Mist: We know anything about gremlins?

Lennix: Kid’s stories, nasty little humanoids with sharp teeth and a load of mischief. They like causing trouble.

We start doing a house by house search looking for the leprechauns lost gold and seeking out the offending thieves. The farther we get from the river the more “clues” we pick up. Disturbed dust, creaking floorboards and tufts of hair left behind. We reach what we think used to be a blacksmith’s home and Galen takes one step inside when the floorboard flips up and knocks loose a rope. An anvil at the end of a rope comes swooshing through the air Home Alone style and while Galen manages to dive for safety it takes Murgaltov square in the chest. From the rafters we hear a hoarse snicker and then a crate of pilfered kitchen knives all crudely sharpened is shoved over sending improvised cutlery everywhere.

As we pull Murgaltov to his feet and check for busted ribs we all start scanning the roof for any targets to shoot at. As the anvil swings to a standstill we hear wood scraping and the rope holding the anvil is severed…as the anvil drops Musan snaps off an arrow that transects the eye socket of a hairy little beast holding a sharpened butcher knife. It goes limp and falls to the ground dead as a stone. The anvil crashes through to the basement of the building leaving a big gaping hole. I pick a second target well hidden (but not good enough) in the rafters and put two arrows into it’s chest…it too satisfyingly falls to the ground.

The next building Galen enters alone…the rest of hanging well back. He wounds a gremlin trying to trigger a similar deadfall type trap and the barbarian and sorcerer peg a runner coming from the back.

We scurry from building to building killing nine gremlins in total when we arrive at the town square where a darkened and bordered up church awaits. Entering the church doors triggers an extended brawl with almost a dozen gremlins all hurling themselves at us with a frenzy. We tear them up, taking several small but not life threatening wounds in the process and route them. Hidden below the alter is a cold iron safe covered in spikes. The metal is cherry red hot from where the gremlin chief was holding it.

Murgaltov: Heat Metal is one of their abilities. I can freeze it, but that make might it explode.

Mist: Then let’s wait for it to cool off.

After a while we figure it is safe enough to pick up and despite our best efforts to unlock it, we are unable to. We elect to bring the whole thing back to the Leprechauns.

Lennix: Tread carefully. Most of the stories say fairy folk like the leprechauns are vulnerable to cold iron.

The leprechauns are over joyed at our return…and the severed gremlin heads we retrieved as proof of their destruction. Liam stares at the safe and then spits in his hands rubbing them together, he begins shaping a big sledgehammer from thin air and with a clap of his hands a real hammer appears.

Liam: Alright big fella, smash it open.

As Willow tries to smash the lock off the safe Owen appraises the gremlin heads and eventually shrugs his shoulders…a club appears out of thin air and he starts smashing the teeth out of the twisted decapitated heads. Willow smashes the lock off sending gold spilling into the streets which the leprechauns cheerfully scoop up.

Liam: They came through on the level Owen. Our lovely yellow has come home.

Owen: Aye brother. I think we owe them a bit more than just the map deciphering.

Owen shakes the still bloody teeth of the gremlins like dice in his hand and when they spill out they are now razor sharp arrowheads.

Owen: You will get service from those lads.

Liam: Owen you daft codger…has the color taken your wits?

Owen: Mind yourself Liam, you knows I am the older by two minutes.

Liam: Gremlin teeth weapons? Tis dangerous lore you are dispersing with a liberal hand.

Owen: Don’t mind me brother, he is prone to theatrics. We looked over your map and we spotted one big problem. The river spills out to a lake about eighty miles from here and that’s its beginning. Twon’t take you through the big mountains, that path is gone.

Liam: Aye. Beyond that we are lacking in knowledge but that correction will save you a rough piece of trouble.

Owen: You done us a boon favor lads. We are grateful for that.

Liam: Ack! If you are being so liberal I suppose I can’t appear miserly.

Liam rolls up his sleeves and waves his hands over the shattered cold iron crate…the metal painfully twists and Liam is visibly straining with effort…but the metal reshapes itself into the form of a hefty greatclub.

Liam: Tis a noble shillelagh friends and a deft stroke it will deliver to the fairy folk.

Farewells are exchanged and we part ways with the leprechauns.

We reach the end of the river the following evening.

Day Four 48 Miles
Day Five 24 Miles
Day Six 48 Miles

GnomishPride
2016-10-15, 02:13 PM
Yay a new campaign journal! :smallsmile::smallsmile::smallsmile:

oshi
2016-10-15, 11:45 PM
You're back at it again already Kaveman?
You are tireless! Thanks! :D

halfeye
2016-10-16, 12:08 PM
I am looking forward to reading more.

Traab
2016-10-16, 02:51 PM
Heh dang, at first I was thinking we were about to run a nightmarish version of redwall. Tossing in leprechauns and gremlins makes it a bit more complex though. This is an interesting story and I cant wait to see where it goes from here. A nice time crunch in addition to everything else. I cant wait for the return trip. There is no way the mosquitos and other crew they betrayed wont be preparing for them.

GrayDeath
2016-10-16, 04:15 PM
Interesting, if a bt of the type of campaign I usually have made bad expierences with (granted, I only played in two "emergency overland Campaigns", but both were really really not to my tastes).

Good luck (well, better luck, as you already met leprechauns^^).

Kane0
2016-10-16, 04:29 PM
Aaaand subscribed

Demon 997
2016-10-16, 04:51 PM
This is excellent, really enjoying it. A lovely change of pace from the Necrorancher too.

By my tally, they've got another 2082 miles to go round trip, with 74 days to do it. That's an average of 28.13 miles a day. If they can spend a few days on the river making good time it'll help. A pity about the yak though, that'll hurt.

Traab
2016-10-16, 06:38 PM
This is excellent, really enjoying it. A lovely change of pace from the Necrorancher too.

By my tally, they've got another 2082 miles to go round trip, with 74 days to do it. That's an average of 28.13 miles a day. If they can spend a few days on the river making good time it'll help. A pity about the yak though, that'll hurt.

Obviously the solution is to capture a thousand of those mosquitos, tie them together, and use them as an air ship to get to their location. /nod

Algeh
2016-10-16, 07:11 PM
I cant wait for the return trip. There is no way the mosquitos and other crew they betrayed wont be preparing for them.

Assuming the situation doesn't radically change by then, that'll be an interesting point for them to debate as they get closer to their goal: should they take the same route back, which has the advantage of them knowing where it is and how to traverse it, or one of the other two potential routes they rejected on their way in since they now know exactly how messy it would be re-crossing the river-route territory and have a much clearer idea of how long it would probably take them to get back that way. I'm not sure if their presumed need to rendezvous with the ship on their way back means they've already committed to the same return route or not.

Demon 997
2016-10-16, 07:22 PM
Obviously the solution is to capture a thousand of those mosquitos, tie them together, and use them as an air ship to get to their location. /nod

I mean, you're not wrong.

The logistics and planning on this are pretty non trivial though. Hmm, everything they've met has been sapient, that makes acquiring packhorses either much harder or much easier.


Assuming the situation doesn't radically change by then, that'll be an interesting point for them to debate as they get closer to their goal: should they take the same route back, which has the advantage of them knowing where it is and how to traverse it, or one of the other two potential routes they rejected on their way in since they now know exactly how messy it would be re-crossing the river-route territory and have a much clearer idea of how long it would probably take them to get back that way. I'm not sure if their presumed need to rendezvous with the ship on their way back means they've already committed to the same return route or not.

That's a tricky one. They might improve in gear and power, but not in level right? On the other hand, the river boost speeds significantly, and only the mosquitos are hostile, and they're not a huge threat on their own. I suppose it sort of depends on the storytelling, do you have have final boss of the people you betrayed (or the huge crocodile) or is it purely the race against time?

EDIT: As of now, assuming a constant speed of 32 miles a day they have just under 9 and half days to spare. They'll likely spend another few days on the river, which might help with giving them more time to play with.

Kaveman, any chance you could scan and post the rough map you have? And is the campaign currently happening, or has it wrapped up?

Michael7123
2016-10-16, 07:26 PM
finally had a chance to start reading this. Can't wait to see more!

Traab
2016-10-16, 11:14 PM
I mean, you're not wrong.

The logistics and planning on this are pretty non trivial though. Hmm, everything they've met has been sapient, that makes acquiring packhorses either much harder or much easier.



That's a tricky one. They might improve in gear and power, but not in level right? On the other hand, the river boost speeds significantly, and only the mosquitos are hostile, and they're not a huge threat on their own. I suppose it sort of depends on the storytelling, do you have have final boss of the people you betrayed (or the huge crocodile) or is it purely the race against time?

EDIT: As of now, assuming a constant speed of 32 miles a day they have just under 9 and half days to spare. They'll likely spend another few days on the river, which might help with giving them more time to play with.

Kaveman, any chance you could scan and post the rough map you have? And is the campaign currently happening, or has it wrapped up?

Well, mosquitoes, who apparently have numbing poison darts, which I assume with enough of them could incapacitate a person, plus the "battletoads" and anyone who knows the naga who they betrayed. So far they only have two potential known threats on the route back, the killer croc and the side they betrayed. If they level up like, at all, the current threat will be minimal, but that only applies if the enemy remains static as well. With those bugs im getting nasty flashbacks of the baby ice spider dragon creatures from the necro rancher campaign. They might get a lot tougher by the time the party returns.

Demon 997
2016-10-17, 08:10 AM
Well, mosquitoes, who apparently have numbing poison darts, which I assume with enough of them could incapacitate a person, plus the "battletoads" and anyone who knows the naga who they betrayed. So far they only have two potential known threats on the route back, the killer croc and the side they betrayed. If they level up like, at all, the current threat will be minimal, but that only applies if the enemy remains static as well. With those bugs im getting nasty flashbacks of the baby ice spider dragon creatures from the necro rancher campaign. They might get a lot tougher by the time the party returns.

I believe part of the idea here was that they started at the level cap. So it's only gaining gear and allies to improve power.

Traab
2016-10-17, 08:48 AM
I believe part of the idea here was that they started at the level cap. So it's only gaining gear and allies to improve power.

Yep, didnt notice that. Wow, thats going to make things tough. Eh, upon rereading the whole scene, it actually looks like the mosquitos were no threat to them at all even though they were clearly ticked. Im thinking what will happen is they have to fight sandbar and his mate, because they have now upset the tentative balance between sides and allowed the crocs to take over. I dont think they will be willing to let them pass through twice.

Inevitability
2016-10-17, 09:14 AM
I just realized the cleverness of having this be a two-way trip. Other than the previous dungeon, where the party could just keep pushing deeper to avoid enemies, here they'll actually have to go back the same way (technically they could take another path, but that seems far too risky). Now every person they betray and every disaster they cause will actually have consequences!

Joe the Rat
2016-10-17, 09:28 AM
I believe part of the idea here was that they started at the level cap. So it's only gaining gear and allies to improve power.
If they are going in true e6 fashion, they can pick up more feats per however many XP. But I think this one was a set power game.

RazorChain
2016-10-18, 03:00 AM
That's some heavy arrows you're carrying. I hope it is a typo as 750 grain arrows, which are VERY heavy are 9 to pound.

Kaveman26
2016-10-18, 11:24 AM
Plain Wild:


So in six days we have covered 218 miles, putting us just about 18 miles above our quota. So despite a few setbacks the group has recovered to get back on track. Without being able to continue the river route we abandon the raft and start trekking on foot.

Galen: We are now off track and the advantage of 24/7 travel is gone. Need to start putting in the hard miles.

The alarming trend of seemingless empty country continues. Wildlife continues to be sparse and virtually unseen. We can see the first mountain range in a distance over an area of rolling plains. We press the pace hustling all day and as we come to nightfall half the group is exhausted. Full paranoia mode kicks in as we light a fire and place our bedrolls around the fire….then move about thirty feet from the fire where we sleep in the tall grass, alternating night watches.

The following morning turns eventful quickly. As set out a stream of shadows hits the ground all around us. The call to arms is sounded and we scan the tall plains for any attackers. The attack comes from above. A flock of griffons begins circling overhead. They swoop in and out shrieking at us and diving. The snap of bowstring and whistling of arrows sends them back to a healthy distance. We keep a watchful eye on the skies as the griffons continue to follow us from beyond bow distance. Just before noon a griffon bursts from cover of tall grass and pouncing on the trailing party member…Me. I take a full array of talons, snapping beak and rear claws. The beast snags an arm and starts to drag me up into the air. Murgaltov snaps a freezing ray at the lion/eagle beast and it lets me loose, taking flight and eating an arrow to it’s flank for the trouble. As Lennix examines my wounds to determine if they are heal worthy two more griffons swoop in with snapping beak and slashing talon. A full swarm of eight begins attacking aggressively, daring us to trade bow for talon. We manage to kill three of the eight and not a single one leaves unharmed. We get shredded in the process, what healing magic available from Lennix keeps us in double digits, but the damage is severe given our resources.

We make a snap decision to get the heck out of their territory. Murgaltov summons himself a Mount, and then burns all his third level spells to provide phantom mounts for the rest of our party. We put heels to horse and hustle out of their turf. They harry us for miles, trying to knock us from the horses. When murgaltov is knocked from his summoned horse a pair of large males snatch the horse and fly off with the beast. Murgal summons a new one and we ride until we collapse.

We hear distant shrieks from what we assume are angry griffons at losing their “meal”, but thankfully the pursuit has ceased. We manage 40 miles but spend the whole night in strung out shape. Everyone is still nursing wounds the following day. A half pace is the best we can manage the following day without further exhausting ourselves and we clear about half what we have been averaging. News worsens when Galen rides back in from scouting to report what could be some hostile forces.

Galen: Few miles west of here is a camp. Several log cabins, a fence, and a central loghouse. I didn’t see inhabitants but there are smoking ashes and hides hanging on lines. Not sure who is there, so let’s be cautious.

Mist: Can we swing wide around it?

Galen: It’s situated nicely in our path. We can go around but it’s going to burn at least half a day.

Willow: So it’s a question of time vs risk.

Murgaltov: I say we skirt fairly close to the edge of the camp and be ready to hightail it, if the natives are less than friendly.

Mist: I can live with that.

The group gets in tight together, with arrows at the ready and we start to hustle as we approach the confines of the lodge and camp. We skirt past the camp and run into no outwardly hostile advances. A mile or so past the encampment we hear running water and voices coming from the other side of a small hill. We commando crawl to the edge and find a small pond being fed from a stream, inside the pond are multiple men and women all frolicking and clearly enjoying themselves. Outwardly it looks like a co-ed high school skinny dip, only the ram’s horns curling around the heads of the swimmers tips off their lack of humanity. There are three of the ram’s horn people (satyrs) sitting outside of the water playing pipes. Almost unbidden the music carries a message to us…

Join Us
Come Play
Give in To Your Desires

The music carries with it a magical charm and suggestion…Not a single one of us makes a saving throw, and before we know it weapons are falling to the ground along with clothes as we cheerfully shout out to make room in the water. A red haired male satyr named Auburn welcomes us in. A brown haired female named Autumn swims to Willow and wraps her arms around him chuckling. Murgaltov notices that some of the males are less than enthusiastic at the sight of their ladies sizing up our group.

Murgaltov: Perhaps we shouldn’t intrude…

Autumn: You aren’t intruding you are enhancing our day. We love new friends.

As a hobogoblin I am not exactly embraced with open arms. So much for diversity amongst fairy goat people.

Murgaltov: Still we have urgent affairs that need to be attended upon.

Auburn: Yeah friend. If you have urgent business best be about it.

Willow being indirectly threatened is given a new saving throw, and he botches it poorly. Sweeping the female satyr up and carrying her around in the pond. Musan, Galen and Lennix all follow suit as they get more into the spirit of things. Murgaltov whose paranoia is kicking in does detect the subtle threat and he along with myself pass the saves needed to come to our senses. He and I start exiting the pond and try to act natural as I backtrack towards my quiver and bow. Murgaltov does his best to prod the rest of the group out of the water with little luck.

Auburn: Autumn…I think our new friend might have a better time if we got to mingle with some of the less attached women.

He accompanies this suggestion with a nudge at Willow…who again botches the save and misses all indication that he might be flirting with the wrong girl.

Willow: Why don’t you baaaaaack off.

A horrible pun that throws himself into hysterics.

Mist: Did he just make a sheep joke at the alpha goat man?

Murgaltov *sigh*: Yep.

Like a camera focusing the sight of daggers at the pipers belt’s and shortbows along with other serrated blades at the water’s edge alerts us to the potential danger at hand. Auburn produces a dagger that was not visible beneath the water and the focusing of his eyes and tightening of the blade in hand is enough for me to act. I put a duo of arrows into his chest and watch as they barely penetrate the skin. That shatters the peace as everyone scrambles for a weapon. Lennix and Musan get clear pretty quickly, while Galen and Willow find themselves grappling against satyrs. Murgaltov hits the heaviest concentration of satyrs reaching the bank with a web, while I scramble for a plan B.

Murgaltov: Use the gremlin toothed arrow heads. See if that helps.

The next arrows that launch have a much bigger impact…MUCH BIGGER. The wounds they inflict are affected by invisible teeth, gnawing at the hole to enlarge it. The screaming from Auburn is enough to let Willow back track to the bank where he snatches up the cold iron greatclub and he begins to wreck house against the fey creatures. When they see the greatclub and the wounds being inflicted from the arrowheads they scatter and run. Willow has Auburn bleeding badly and he is set to deliver the coup de grace against the jaded bachelor when Musan snatches the club from his hands with his chained kama and shakes his head.

Musan: Right now there is bloodshed, but no death. They are panicked and running. We don’t need to escalate this further.

Willow: He tried to gore me! He pulled a dagger on me.

Musan: Yes. You were cozying up to someone he has feelings for, now with the haze cleared that is obvious. Alive he a hostage for ransom or barter, dead he is simply the fuel for igniting a blood feud.

Willow begrudgingly lowers the club and we then try to salvage the wounds which are still eating him apart. A cure light wounds stops the progress of the arrow wounds and slows the blood loss. We bind him up and redress ourselves while Galen and Lennix look for any returned attackers.

Musan crouches down to eye level with the wounded by stable Satyr.

Musan: We sought no conflict. I understand things went badly but we are ready to free you. If you press against us such mercy will not be afforded a second time.

Auburn: I understand. I will speak with my kin. They can understand such a mistake. We are partially at fault…the music is compelling and I was carried away at the sight of the barbarian holding the woman who will one day bear my fauns. You must understand something as well. The weapons you hold are taboo. To our kind they are evil and unclean. I know not where you found them, but they will mark you as enemy to all our kind. Tread carefully no matter where your road leads. I will convince my kin to leave matters as they stand, but should they see you again…they will shoot first.

As we move out in a hustle everyone silently makes sure a few of the goblin toothed arrows are in their quiver. Willow covers the greatclub in a sack and ties it off behind his cloak to keep it hidden from sight. We ride silently for some time…

Day 7: 40 Miles
Day 8: 16 Miles

8 Days 274 Miles

Traab
2016-10-18, 02:59 PM
And there is enemy group #2. This return trip is going to be FUN.

Demon 997
2016-10-18, 06:26 PM
Also losing their buffer of spare time. Given that the river isn't as going as far, would a different route home make more sense?

Traab
2016-10-18, 07:45 PM
Also losing their buffer of spare time. Given that the river isn't as going as far, would a different route home make more sense?

The river path wasnt that much longer overall, and they have already covered more than that extra portion before leaving the stream. The other paths MIGHT make sense, except they cant be sure they are any better. They dont know for sure where the mountain passes actually are and if they are passable, plus the fact that its mountain territory means the terrain will be much rougher than dashing across plains and such like they are mostly doing now. So its a shorter route, but they will likely average less miles per day even without trouble. And the third path is a desert route where supplies, which are already a slight issue, could get even worse. Compare that to at least being aware of the dangers behind them on this route, and its probably better at this point to come back the same way. If they had picked the necromancer cattle drive scorched earth policy making everyone hate them it might be a different matter.

Talakeal
2016-10-18, 09:42 PM
Awesome start to another great Kaveman26 campaign log!

Thanks for posting these.

They simultaneously make me want to post campaign logs for my games and not post campaign logs for my games because they won't be nearly as awesome...

Inevitability
2016-10-19, 04:55 AM
They simultaneously make me want to post campaign logs for my games and not post campaign logs for my games because they won't be nearly as awesome...

I know that feeling.

Kaveman26
2016-10-19, 11:22 AM
Never Let Them Feed On You After Midnight:

On the ninth day we pick up the pace and try to hustle as much as possible. The mountain ranges are in sight and we press on in the evening to reach the base of the pass before camping for the night and getting a fresh start at dawn. Everyone except for Musan is fatigued by nightfall. As we hunker down the baying of dogs grabs our attention. On something of a rise in the ground we see torch lights deep onto the plains and heading our way.

Musan: There are definitely dogs, a lot of dogs and judging by the number of torches at least twenty pursuers. Hard to think they are after anything other than us.

Mist: Well they have to come uphill to reach us. Let’s fill their face with broadhead arrows and make em bleed to reach us.

Within an hour they have crossed the last few miles and we are able to make out some shapes amidst the torchlight. A series of gremlins much like we fought at the Rainbow’s End are mounted on what look like viscious fey-poodles. Being driven ahead of them are smaller and much uglier gremlins, like dogs walking upright.

Galen: Switch to the gob teeth arrows.

We unleash a barrage of missile attacks that drop the smaller lead gremlins like flies…but there is a ton of them and we get swarmed by masses of tiny dagger wielding gremlins all hacking at our knees and calves. That’s when we get our first surprise, as some of us switch to melee weapons we are told to double up on the d20’s, apparently these little bugger radiate an aura of bad luck that makes you roll each attack twice and take the worse result.

They are squishy, most fall to a single greatclub stroke or arrow, but it’s the bigger nastier ones that are wrecking us. They are circling on their evil little poodles from the fringes and sending darts and shortbow arrows in plenty to the middle. There is no regard for us or gremlin, the firing is indiscriminate. Their damage output is low, but the number of attacks is adding up against us. Musan and I manage to clear the pug gremlins from our area and we step back and begin sniping against the bigger boss gremlins. Once a few of them are dropped from their poodles the attack begins to break off.

We chase them clear out of bow range and then drop to the ground now exhausted and badly hurt. I make a round of all the corpses smashing out teeth with the butt of a dagger. We may not be able to make the nice fancy leprechaun ones, but hopefully a sharpened tooth will still overcome damage reduction.

Galen: They are regrouping. Not attacking again yet, but they are holding their ground a few hundred yards out.

Musan: We need an hour’s rest, maybe they will give us that much.
In the dead of night and relying strictly on Musan and Galen to navigate a mountain ascent with no light other than the stars and moon we make a trek into the pass, hoping the gremlins will delay until morning. They don’t.

As we make the painstakingly slow ascent arrows begin to ricochet off rocks and stick in the dirt around us. The bigger gremlins are taking pot shots from behind boulders for cover. The last of their pug fodder and their poodles charge us in mass. The poodles seem to be in two places at once as if there is some displacer beast in their blood. We mockingly refer to them as Blink Poodles. They take a further toll on our dwindling HP’s and then fall back as Willow smashes the last blink poodle. Murgaltov is down to his bloodline abilities, Lennix is completely out of spells and Galen has the most HP with 21 remaining. We end up shifting the club to Galen as Willow is down to 12.

The night trek becomes a 4/2 cover and clear. Two of us track any potential targets and send arrows at anything peeking out while the other four move. Two of the four who moved then set up to track targets while the bottom two move up. We leapfrog each other in this manner, step by step, round by round for what feels like hours. As dawn approaches everyone is spent. Once again exhausted we can no longer even draw back our longbows, the strength penalty outstrips our ability to draw the composite bows and we are forced into our emergency shortbow supply. Not what we intended when we packed them but a fortunate bonus.

After clearing a tricky vertical face we collapse and try to recover. If they attempt to climb after we can have them helpless. We hear their scrabbling as they look for alternate routes or paths up, but they are blocked. Galen and Musan bid the rest of us to get further ahead.

Galen: We are going to hide and wait for them to come up. Hopefully if they see you guys move they will try to follow thinking it’s clear. The monk is going to trip them up and I am going to knock them clear off the mountain. We need to end this.

The four of us travel a few hundred yards further up and soon after the remaining gremlins take up the tough vertical climb. As they reach the surface and help each other up the monk and ranger burst from cover and Musan puts the chained kama to work, wrenching the feet out from the smaller and weaker gremlins. Galen lays them low for eternity with bone crunching swings of the cold iron club and they finish off the pursuers.

The sun is cresting as we regroup and collapse.

Day 9: 40 Miles
Day 10: 16 Miles

Traab
2016-10-19, 01:52 PM
Dang, that was harsh. I have to say, one of my favorite things about these campaigns is how well whoever is dming it manages to balance the encounters. Unless there is a little dm dice fudging, a number of fights get brought down to the wire like this and yet never reach the tpk point.

Demon 997
2016-10-19, 04:00 PM
Yep, you guys are excellent, both at running and playing.

Continuing the math:

1970 miles left, assuming they return by the same route.

Assuming they average 32 miles a day, that gives them 8.5ish days to spare. That's dropping, and fairly fast.

They need to make at least 28.14 miles a day to make it back in time. They've average 33 so far, but but included the river.

Ice
2016-10-20, 03:10 AM
i would be cool it you could post a total distance traveled at the end of each post along with distant traveled per day. Math is difficult and hurts my brain.

Kaveman26
2016-10-20, 01:34 PM
Fey-remiah Johnson (Look up Jeremiah Johnson…phenomenal Robert Redford Movie):

The first mountain pass is more of a Do Not Pass Go…Do Not Collect 200.00. We meander and struggle for any forward progress and after three full days and nights of toil we are hopelessly quagmired in the high ground. That is when we meet him.

A tall and slender man who seems much larger owing to the dire bear fur he is wearing. We are camped out in the middle of the night away from our campfire when we suddenly realize someone is tending the fire. We come alert with a start and throw our hands up in frustration at Musan our sentry.

Musan: Holy **** where did he come from.

Stranger: Well…I have lost the trail on two separate stalks because you lot keep banging around and upsetting my mountain. Figured I could either kill you or show you the exit. Didn’t see much sport in killing you, so I opted for the latter. Names Skylan.

He pulls the hood and reveals a face both familiar and alien. He clearly has elvish ancestry, but there is definitely a touch of the fairy in him too.

Skylan: You heading east or west?

Musan: West.

Skylan: You missed the trail that would have lead you out a day and a half ago. Can you lot climb? Or seat a horse?

All: We are adept at both.

Skylan: Right. Come first light we head out of here. I got to ask though, where do you come from? Haven’t seen a non fairy folk in ages.

Lennix spills out our entire story, diamond, barrier and all. The mountain man shakes his head several times but listens intently.

Skylan: So you must have avoided the migration somehow. Talk about peculiar.

Mist: The Migration?

Skylan: Before you were a twinkle in your momma’s eye, some well to be honest could very well be a hundred years ago…don’t keep much of a calendar up here…The barrier between our worlds was breached. The Fairy Folk threw in their agenda with someone on this side and they orchestrated a vast migration. Darn near everything that walked crawled or hollered was upended into the fairy kingdom. Those left behind were touched. They turned on the lights of reason and thought. Makes hunting bear a lot tougher when the grumpy bruin you been trailing for a fortnight starts yelling at ya to give up the chase.

Galen: Everything we have encountered has been intelligent or fey. I think maybe even the Naga.

Skylan: And everything else you cross paths with will likely share those traits.

Mist: If the whole world was crossed over to fairy land why are you here?

Skylan: I prefer the mountain over a glade or commune. Bit odd for a fey-blooded but that’s the path I prefer. Some didn’t take kindly to suddenly housing them refugees and hightailed it to this place…with the migration it got a whole lot quieter.

Willow: Who was responsible for the Migration on this end?

Skylan: Couldn’t answer that. Never met them.

Mist: What can you tell us about these?

I showed one of the goblin toothed arrows to Skylan…who hissed and jerked his hand before touching it.

Skylan: Where the hell did you come across that?

Mist: Leprechaun.

Skylan: Lord almighty, the little green bloke must be touched himself. The grem’s are a nuisance and serve up plenty of trouble even back home on the other side…but their teeth are a powerful magic especially when crafted as weapons. Short of trying to murder the Pixie Queen herself there ain’t many crimes more severe.

Mist: We have heard as much from some satyrs.

Skylan: Damn effective against the fey blooded, real damn effective.

Mist: We have more…these we took fresh from the maws of a party that raided us. They haven’t been magicked though.

Skylan: Even without the green brethren’s touch they will prove dangerous, but not as potent. Don’t suppose I could barter some off you?

Mist: Like in exchange for passage?

Skylan: Nah, I done already offered to take you, not going to go back on my word. Was thinking a weapon for a weapon.

From behind his back he pulls out a serrated cold iron dagger emblazoned with inlaid pearl and runes. It looks ancient and wickedly sharp.

Skylan: Think this will serve you better than me. 40 teeth for the dagger and we can call it square.

We agree and exchange a small bag of gremlin teeth for the dagger…a +2 keen cold iron dagger. Skylan accompanies us through the trails to exit the mountain and we make one final barter with him.

Galen: Ten more teeth if you will mark us a trail back through for the shortest possible distance.

Skylan: I could arrange that for you fellas. Not sure what awaits you in that valley. Best of luck and hopefully I see you on the return trail.

Day 1-10: 330 Miles
Day 11-14 60 Miles

We start day 15 with 390 miles logged. That leaves us 25 days to cover 610 miles. Despite our setback in the mountain we are not doing too bad timeframe wise and we now have some sprawling forests before the second mountain range and the eventual destination. Armed with the knowledge that Fey and Awakened Creatures will await virtually our every step we make it a priority to fit the sharpened gremlin teeth to our existing arrow shafts and to craft more shafts and arrows each night. Our initial supply of 400 is already dwindled to under 200 and we are only a fifth of the way through our journey.

DireSickFish
2016-10-20, 04:04 PM
This is a good read. I have trouble keeping track of logistics as a GM. Which sucks because a lot of my ideas for games would really be improved by better time and logistic tracking.

Traab
2016-10-20, 08:38 PM
Dang, assuming this guy was honest, and considering he traded a nice weapon for those teeth as well I think he was, you guys got lucky. Of course with your luck its a cursed blade. :smallbiggrin:

Kaveman26
2016-10-21, 02:13 PM
Brownie Scouts:

The decision to discreetly carry our cold iron weapons pays dividends our first day in the forest. As we pass through the brush a series of large headed and grinning small humanoids, maybe two feet high and weighing barely twenty pounds start popping up from trees and from the roots to greet us. Lennix identifies them as brownies and says that unless threatened they should be harmless. We exchange small talk with them and offer a few bits of our trail rations, they are warm and friendly, using their magic to mend our clothes and backpacks, and they are quite open with directions and information.

We make no hostile actions and make sure that Willow keeps his club well hidden. I have the serrated fairy killing dagger well hidden to be safe. They ask if we would be so kind as to help them with a single task…there is a large and dead tree that they need to drop before it falls on it’s own and they would like our assistance with ensuring it falls in the right direction. We take on the assignment of part time lumberjacks and set Musan to work chopping down the tree, the rest of us tie a rope as high up the trunk as possible and pull in the direction we want to drop the massive tree. It takes a solid hour but we get the thing to go and it lands more or less where we were aiming. Revealed in the hollow of the stump left behind is a dead body. A nymph is curled in the fetal position…body petrified to wood…there is a short sword buried to the hilt in her back and protruding from her chest. The brownies are deeply saddened by this discovery and they almost immediately make themselves scarce. Galen subtly nudges us and mouths “cold iron” when looking at the sword. Murgaltov places a hand on the hilt and the sword starts glowing a warm blue.

Murgaltov: It’s magic.

Mist: Think it will get them in a twist if we remove it? Spin it as allowing her to rest in peace without the stain of the cold iron?

Galen: Or we shove a dagger in the wound and see if they pay that close of attention.

We debate back and forth a bit and elect that the benefits of another cold iron weapon outweigh any Brownie Retribution and Galen wrenches the sword free and does he his best to situate a dagger within the wound. We start to bury the nymph when the brownies return and tell us to stop.

Brownie Leader: She can’t be buried here. She needs to be buried in the light so the sun can touch her.

Musan: Absolutely little brother.

We carry the corpse to an opening in a glade and bury the body there. Within minutes a small trunk of a new tree is bursting from the ground. The Brownies give out a cheer and begin singing. A few minutes later and the wood of the tree begins to twist and darken. The singing stops and the brownies suddenly look panicked. A dark cloud forms overhead and a bitter dark rain starts to fall over the tree. A mist rises from the ground around the tree and the brownies scatter in terror. One of them shouts something about the nymph being a suicide.

We all duck for cover away from the tree as well and we corner one of the little guys and he blubbers on about a nymph that takes her own life comes back to the world reborn as a twisted mockery of what she once was. As he says this a ghoulish half wooden creature rises from the tree’s roots spilling dark red sap like blood and with insects skittering all over her form.

Willow charges the shambling nymph thing and cleaves as mightily as he can with greatsword…the stroke bisects her torso….only for the torso to wrap roots around the sword and bind it within her. A root extends like a lance from her mouth and with the speed of a ballista bolt impales Willow through the chest…spreading roots to prevent him from sliding off the sharpened branch now piercing him. As the barbarian howls in pain Galen tries to hack him free with his waraxes, Musan starts flicking from reach with the chained kama and every attack damn near sees the weapon bound to the nymph thing. Murgaltov levels freezing rays at the thing while I send standard arrows that seem to have no effect.

Willow manages to pull a dagger from his belt and he slashes from grapple range. Lennix notices a series of roots twisting from the things legs that are threatening to entangle the rest of us. Within seconds most of us are entangled and fighting to stay our feet. Musan lands a critical from the kama that holds in the thing’s throat…with superhuman strength he wrenches nearly decapitating the nymph and the roots begin to die. It is a tricky process extricating our barbarian from the spiked branch through his body but we manage to get him loose without bleeding him out.

Mist: I don’t understand…how could she have taken her own life if she was stabbed through the back.

Willow: Let’s not forget that she was inside a tree when we found her body. That’s seems harder to explain.

Brownie: If she chose to end her own life, another could have performed the action. It was still her choice.

We make some hasty apologies to the traumatized brownies and then express our urgency in leaving.

Brownie: We owe you for saving our lives, how can we repay you?

Mist: We could use a sturdy wagon.

Brownie: What is a wagon?

Our attempts to describe a wagon are somewhat harder than you might expect, but we get the idea across to them. Within a matter of a few hours they assemble a custom made and very natural looking coach that we can hook up a Phantom Steed or Galen’s horse. We then decide to go full bore all in on chewing up the miles and we press the coach as fast as we can. It reaches a point where we get out and run while Galen and his horse rest inside the wagon and the phantom’s pull us.

We can’t manage actual 24/7 movement but we are able to clear 40 miles a day on land and we cover a full 200 over the next five days.

End of Day 20: 810 miles cleared

Traab
2016-10-21, 03:10 PM
Wow, this was a pretty good day all the way around. For a moment there I was sure they got caught futzing with the body, but this is great! If they keep their weapons hidden they will have a decent safe space on the route back to travel through. Plus with a wagon they can start covering more ground. You know, until the inevitable event takes place that makes them have to leave it behind or it gets broken.

Beneath
2016-10-21, 06:15 PM
Making good time too. A quarter of your time and you're only like 340 miles from the halfway point.

That was a really uneventful 200 miles though, with the wagon.

Fizban
2016-10-22, 05:18 AM
I can't imagine leaving a weapon in there was a good idea, steel might not be as bad but if the idea was that she was gonna come back to life then a dagger sticking out of her chest would not have helped that situation. Maybe not though, simple trade of get new sword=fight a mini-boss suggests the dagger was irrelevant.

Cernor
2016-10-22, 08:30 AM
I can't imagine leaving a weapon in there was a good idea, steel might not be as bad but if the idea was that she was gonna come back to life then a dagger sticking out of her chest would not have helped that situation. Maybe not though, simple trade of get new sword=fight a mini-boss suggests the dagger was irrelevant.

As I read it, at the time they didn't know she was coming back to life. The dagger was a bait-and-switch (give up a normal weapon to get a cold iron one), hoping the brownies didn't look close enough to notice their deception.

Fizban
2016-10-22, 08:46 AM
Oh I didn't think it was a great idea in general, but potentially being the source of the fight would underscore that further.

Kaveman26
2016-10-25, 11:02 AM
To Bee or Not to Bee:

At this point we are well ahead of schedule, with only 390 miles to go and almost three weeks to reach the goal we decide to forage for added provisions while still in the forests. We figure at half pace while hunting/gathering we will reach the mountains in about 7 days. That leaves us just under two weeks to clear the second mountain range and locate the diamond. We successfully restock some much needed food stores and are only about two weeks shy of being able to live off what we have stockpiled on the return home. Covering approximately 20 miles a day for four days we reach the mountains and find an unexpected obstacle.

The mountain pass is less of a pass and more of a fortress. Elegant stone and wood structures literally honeycomb the mountain’s face and a series of bee-like women flit around the opening on insectile wings. They are breathtakingly beautiful and graceful. We also have zero clue what they are. Most of us are guilty of Player Knowledge corrupting Character Knowledge. We try to avoid blatantly exploiting such information but this is one case where the “cheat codes” have been fully disabled. None of us is familiar with these particular creatures, other than “ I think I skimmed past them in one of the bestiaries, but I can’t remember which one”

We are quickly spotted and an envoy comes out to meet us, they are cordial but firm in their wishes for us to disarm ourselves. Their apparent leader tilts her head to the side and then circles us. She flies extremely close to us and stares at us intently with insect eyes from a supermodel’s face. A delicate hand reaches out to touch Galen’s beard and like a light turning on she jumps back and squeeks in surprise.

Bee-Soldier Lady: You are males.

Everyone shares a confused glance and we nod in agreement.

Lennix: Yes we are certainly males…proof can be provided.

Bee-Soldier Lady: Our seers have ordained this moment, they told us to be ready for when the stars aligned men would once again walk the earth. I was a fool to doubt their wisdom, for that moment has come. I must politely insist that you accompany me to the interior of our hive to meet with the seers. This is exciting news.

The bee ladies are literally and figuratively buzzing with excitement as they coax us into the honeycombed halls of their hive. Everything is elegant and synergistic, the natural geology of the mountain’s stone is blended to create an organic artwork and decoration. A trio of apparently older Bee Ladies awaits our arrival as if they knew we were coming. Which they all but announce with certainty.

Bee-Seer: You are ahead of schedule. This is surprising, a sensation we rarely experience.

Lennix: Did we accidentally RSVP to something without knowing? Have we met before?

Bee-Seer: Our meeting is no accident, though it occurs from happenstance. We knew that men would one day pass through the stones of this mountain and that it was imperative we greet them. You are needed much more than you know. Leave your weapons here. They will neither be needed or helpful. The Queen must receive you as honored guests not as hostages or invaders.

Mist: I’m holding onto the dagger, going to conceal it as best as possible and if they finger me for it I will act like I forgot.

The Bee’s don’t do any kind of search, seeming to take us at our word that we disarmed completely. We are escorted past a series of soldiers and other Seers, as we interact it is becoming easier to identify the “castes” of the Bees. A large chamber very much akin to a Bee’s Hive but scaled up and with some more sophistication holds a much larger Queen. She is huge, but still perfectly to scale as a flawlessly beautiful woman, albeit with much obvious Bee biology. She is also clearly older…like a woman into her forties who could be a fresh faced 50 or a mature looking 35.

Queen: Astonishing. Your gifts of foresight have not diminished in the slightest Elle.

Elle (Seer): You honor me your grace.

Queen: I must know strangers, where do you come from? We have not seen a single man in a full century. We have scoured and searched with methods mundane and mystical and uncovered stones a plenty without a single hint of a man’s presence, and yet here you stand before me.

We once again deliver the full island sanctuary and failing shield dire mission details to the very attentive and polite Bee Women. The Seer’s pause at certain points to leave the room and bid us to wait. Each time they return they make a single hand gesture to the Queen who nods her assent. When we finish the Queen has us escorted from the room and held just outside by her soldiers. Less than an hour passes and we are returned to her audience.

Queen: You have met my question with candor and forthcoming. My sages and advisors confirm the broad strokes and have identified your homeland by dint of not being able to locate it. The absence of anything within the region you describe confirms the presence of something beyond our ability to scry. I owe to you an equal level of candor and forthcoming. Bluntly speaking our hive is fading. For time beyond count we have extended our species by taking male mates from your groups of species, your seed quickens our hatchlings and allows us to breed. Without males to stoke our eggs we can’t procreate. I am nearly past the age where I can conceive a successor and allow my hive to flourish. We know where this diamond is to be found. It would not be fair to categorize the persons holding your diamond as our enemies, but they seek different goals than our own and we have found ourselves at conflict from time to time. The Formians are an ant-like people with cultural achievements on par to our own. I respect their King and I respect their ingenuity and evolutionary achievement. We coexist out of requirement and hold no love for one another. I am inclined to believe your intentions are good and decent, and that you are good and decent folk. As such I would like to provide assistance in retrieving this diamond, but I must take a payment from you in order to do so. I require one of you to volunteer themselves to stay among us and to provide that which is needed for our hive to continue. There is a great honor in doing so and you will have a life of luxury and ease. You will want for nothing. However…it is a position you serve for life. You will be exposed to secrets exclusive to our race and as such can’t leave this Hive. When your days dwindle and your life fades we will see that you are put to a gentle and painless sleep until the spark of your life extinguishes.

Galen: If we refuse?

Queen: I do dislike deception so I will be forward. I believe you to be decent and good people, but if you choose to abandon our aid in completion of your goal and doom our people to extinction I will be forced to determine that you are callous and evil and we will cleanse you from this earth.

Lennix: You do realize this is just a pleasant form of coercion?

Queen: Preferable to an unpleasant form. I offer a life of leisure, pleasure and luxury and a peaceful death in exchange for providing you with the assistance to complete your quest and protect your home. You will not find a better accommodation from the Formians. I can give you the afternoon to decide.

Inevitability
2016-10-25, 01:17 PM
[Insert predictable Oprah gif here]


Also, good to see Formians will be making an appearance. They're woefully underused monsters.

Traab
2016-10-25, 02:02 PM
Time to negotiate. They need you to survive, so imo the best option would be to work with that and offer a trade of services if I may be blunt. You need to go to a certain place by a certain time and come back. If she has any method to speed you on your way there and back then the group would be willing to take some time from their busy schedule and lend a hand, or other body part. This could work both ways. For example, if they can manage to transport you a specific distance towards your goal, you can spend that many days entertaining the queen, then come back and do it again to get a boost back home. This way both sides win. Of course, now there is a long term issue. They know where the island is now and can probably do raiding runs on it in the future.

Demon 997
2016-10-25, 02:03 PM
Wondering how you'll get out of this one. Say you'll leave someone on the way back?

Or maybe give up a player and have a cool bee lady join the party?

Inevitability
2016-10-25, 02:44 PM
Related: are the 'bee people' thriae by any chance? Because in that case fighting them is going to be tricky (CR 18 queen awaaaaay!).

Kaveman26
2016-10-25, 04:06 PM
Related: are the 'bee people' thriae by any chance? Because in that case fighting them is going to be tricky (CR 18 queen awaaaaay!).

They are indeed Thriae.

Kaveman26
2016-10-25, 05:20 PM
Counter Offer:

Lennix: Well I always wanted a sugar momma…but I didn’t expect her to be a honey momma.

Mist: I’m not comfortable being extorted, nor am I comfortable with trying to pull this off a man short.

Lennix: I can think of worse fates.

Musan: Perhaps we can find a compromise.

Galen: I don’t think is a compromising type area. They are dealing with the security of their whole race, not an area for much flex.

Murgaltov: I haven’t seen a single other member of my race for decades, doesn’t give me the right to snatch some women and force them to become brood mares. We are dealing with our whole societies potential survival as well. Besides if it is that crucial to them, they can’t simply kill us. That puts them back into the extinction problem. They are going to have to compromise with us in some fashion. I don’t think anyone is against the idea of providing the assistance they are asking…but it’s going to be have on terms we can both accept.

We debate amongst ourselves and assemble a counter offer. When the Queen receives us again she is more anxious than earlier.

Lennix: We admire the frankness your grace and we have discussed your proposal amongst ourselves. We are willing to work with you but not under the terms you suggested.

Queen: There was no suggestion, there was statement.

Lennix: Never the less we humbly request you hear us out. If prolonged contact with your species exposes us to knowledge beyond our ability to bear then we request a short exposure. We will provide volunteers to act in the capacity you require in one week intervals. No secrets will be revealed in this timeframe and the volunteer will tag out with a replacement. You will receive a consensual and diverse group of donors and your hive will be the stronger for the variety. As a sign of good faith, upon completion of our mission we will leave the first volunteer in your hive on our return trip.

Queen: That does not guarantee the needed material for our procreation. Should you all perish in your endeavor or fail to live up to your end of the bargain…

Lennix:…then you now are aware of our home and can find us. It is not a guarantee. Little is certain in life. We could leave a hostage now and that person could trip and break his neck tomorrow. If you kill us out of hand then you are guaranteed to find no suitable donor. We are both trusting each other despite the uncertainties.

Elle: My liege. This is one of the outcomes we have foretold.

Queen: I am well aware old friend. It does not make the decision rest any lighter upon my thorax. You ask us to balance our future upon a razor’s edge. Every step could spill our blood into the oblivion and we must dance upon that fine line. I hope your balance preserves us both. We have an accord. Elle…see to the preparations.

The Seer hurries us out of the room and delivers us to a chamber seeping with a honey like substance.

Elle: The Formians hold the diamond you seek at the heart of their lair. It is secured and guarded at all times. They consider it sacred. We can’t storm their lair by force, they are greater in number and strength than we. Our divinations and foresight prevent ambush, but there is no path to victory through attack. We must thread a needle through the tunnels of their fortress and be both swift and silent. This Merope…a special honey will be the key to our stealth. It entrances their senses and confuses the mind. Coated in it you will be as a dream or ghost to the Formians. We have begun secretion of this special Merope from the moment we made contact, but five days must be held to create enough for our purposes. We will not risk being seen by the Ants. You six must complete this theft on your own. My scouts will accompany you to the edges of their colony but from there you are on your own.

Galen: Are there side effects to the Merope? Will it affect us?

Elle *grimacing*: Yes…there are unintended features of the substance as it relates to humans and their related demi races. Foremost is a hyper sensitivity to sound, smell, light, and touch. Secondary effects include an elevated libido and metabolism.

Mist: So basically we are going to be rolling on an organically occurring Extasy. Great.

Elle: There is one more thing. It is rather addictive. The longer you allow it to seep into your skin the more you are going to desire it’s effects.

Lennix: Just when I thought today couldn’t get any stranger.

Burning five days just sitting rubs us the wrong way. The Bee’s are open to restocking our provisions and have access to arrows and other supplies, some of which would be exotic for our proficiency purposes. We still forage the surrounding areas and continue to replenish our arrow supplies on our own. A skeleton of a plan is also formulated. It is decided that Galen and I will spearhead the incursion and extraction portion of the mission while Willow, Lennix and Musan form the distractionary force outside the ant hill. Murgaltov will be the deep safety who waits in the passes to either take the diamond as a hand off, or to help belay pursuers if we have to burst into a full retreat.

The merope compound is loaded into ceramic jars and sealed with beeswax, we now have 12 days remaining to reach the Ant Farm and reach the halfway goal. We are told by the Thriae (not positive of spelling but the Bee People) that we can reach the Ant Farm in five days time. That leaves us a week to extract the diamond and make a break for it.

A suitable position is located in the mountain pass that spills into the Formian Valley. Forty eight hours are spent rigging a landslide type trap to cover our escape and we fortify a small escarpment for Murgaltov to perch in. Galen and I split from the group and give Willow and his crew an eight hour gap. Basically we give ourselves eight hours to reach the entrance to the Ant Farm and then our distraction goes into play. We decide that simple and straightforward is the easiest and elect to start a fire in the valley and then harry anything that comes to report in.

As we get within the last few hundred feet we start creeping as best as possible, and slather ourselves in the bee-E, it is a trippy sensation…every sound or gust of wind is sensory overload and we find ourselves wandering in circles mesmerized by rustling leaves or damn near pissing ourselves when we the sun hits our eyes. Progress is far slower and tougher than we anticipated as our two characters try to “sneak” into the Ant Farm stronghold while high as kites.

The smoke from the fires becomes visible right as we reach the central entrance and we end up literally walking backward while staring at the smoke in a trance as Formian Workers and Soldiers pour out to investigate. One does a double take when he bumps into the two of us, then shakes his head and continues on. We start infiltrating (poorly) while Willow and Lennix along with Musan do their best to drag the Formian’s into a wild goose chase.

Galen and I wander the halls of the Formian stronghold trying to find a way into it’s heart while acting like two stoners trying to shush each other than giggling at the sound of our own shoosh! Curious and confused Formians periodically come towards us, but end up wandering off baffled and confused. We wander for what feels like hours, stopping every so often to reapply our cream. Our rule of thumb is that if we have enough sense to wonder if we should reapply then its time to reapply.

Not to sound anticlimactic but we stumble into a fortified area with elite soldiers all surrounding a Diamond embedded in a metallic pedestal and realize that we have managed to find the relic we have sought for. Having planned for this eventuality we decide that Galen will grab the diamond while I run intereference. When I get clear and away from Galen I will drench myself in merope and try to engineer an escape. His goal is to clear the Farm and regroup with Lennix etc.

I wipe myself off and send some haphazard “warning” shots towards the soldiers who all pop to attention and give me chase. Galen snatches the diamond and heads the opposite way. Much faster than I expected to happen I am cornered and subdued before I can wash myself in the merope. They are kind enough to not kill me and take me prisoner.

For his part Galen manages to get clear of the Farm and he finds the entire valley burned to a cinder. The pass is sealed and closed….landslide triggered. He meanders through the ash and charred lumber of the valley and finds a message scrawled in dwarvish on the pass wall.

“Waited Six Days! Had to trigger the slide…hope you aren’t dead”

The dwarf scratches his head and tries to clear the cobwebs he convinces himself the shimmering and angelic form of a bee with a woman’s face must be a hallunication and then he passes out from exhaustion.

I wake up after a similar collapse and find myself bound to the floor of a Formian interrogation room. They are not happy. Several verbal threats and physical assaults are visited upon me, and the promise of further are indicated unless I answer why the Thriae hired us to raid their fortress and steal their talisman. Figure honesty is the best policy so I lay it out quite simply.

Mist: The diamond is vital to my community and we needed to steal it for their protection. The Bee’s coerced our cooperation by threatening to kill us all if we didn’t breed their Queen. They provided the honey but the incursion and theft were all ours. I would tell you where they went but I honestly don’t know. So that about covers it. Now if you are going to kill me let’s get on with it, cause death is a welcome relief from this headache.

Formian Leader: Fool. It was not just a diamond, it was a talisman to ward off the flow of Fey and everything that was pulled into their realm. The longer it remains away from this spot the weaker the barrier preventing them from returning will grow. Within weeks the Fairy World will once more burst into ours and all that was removed will be returned.

Mist: So what you are saying is that we just pulled the cork out of the wine bottle holding everything captive within the fairy world? Is that a bad thing?

Formian Leader: To us certainly. When the Migration occurred it pulled every non fey creature to the confines of the Fairy Realm. The Thriae and Formians remained owing to our insectoid heritage, some random fey stayed behind, and virtually all non intelligent wildlife was awakened. Who knows what has been twisted or altered in the intervening century. The Fey World was not meant to house demons, and devils, nor giants and dragons or monsterous beasts. Their return no matter how well intentioned or purposeful will wreak havoc on the balance of our world.

Vizzerdrix
2016-10-25, 06:15 PM
What book are the bee people from?

BilltheCynic
2016-10-25, 06:28 PM
What book are the bee people from?

Thriae (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/monstrous-humanoids/thriae) are from the Bestiary 3 (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8odu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary-3)

Dromuthra
2016-10-26, 07:50 AM
Woo, new campaign! Posting to make it easier to find in the future.

DireSickFish
2016-10-26, 10:47 AM
6 Days? What a trip. I should have really seen you guys causing a second apocalypse with this quest coming. But I didn't! Exciting stuff.

Kaveman26
2016-10-26, 11:23 AM
Who Is Chasing Who:

Willow and company harried and buzzed the ant farm for as long as possible and when the Formians concentrated their efforts on putting out the fires and chasing the invaders they were forced to trigger the landslide and bolt. Once they returned to the Bee Hive they were pressed into fulfilling their obligation with Lennix volunteering to take the first “shift”. Murgaltov kept checking for signs of Galen and I, so he did manage to spot Galen collapsing with the diamond. He managed to get the dwarf over the saddle of a phantom steed and returned our ranger back to the Bee Hive. With Galen out of commission and Lennix occupied they elected to set out and leave some markers for the return path. They stated their intention to follow the same route on their way back. When Galen comes around or I show up we are supposed to follow.

So…the Formians in essence cut me loose from my bonds and push me into showing the path we took back to the Bees. A contingent of Formians marches out and pushes back to the Bee Hive. When we arrive the Thriae are in full force defensive mode. Elle the Seer and the Formian General parley.

Elle: We will not tolerate invaders, you know how this will end Marx.

Marx: We are not invading…despite your transgressions to aid invaders against us. We are a pursuing expedition and we are doing you the courtesy of informing your colony of our passage. In spite of my own misgivings our lord has requested we extend an olive branch and ask for your assistance in retrieving the diamond.

The Formian General Marx then fills in Elle the Seer on the same circumstances I learned. As a species with the ability to see the future and foretell events she is less than impressed and expresses her doubt to him openly.

Marx: The Century Marks the Passage.

Elle: What did you say?

Marx: The Century Marks the Passage. I was told to use those words exactly.

Elle: Bide a moment.

The Seer disappears with urgency into the hive and emerges rapidly thereafter with a force of elite soldiers.

Elle: Lead on.

Mist: Uhm… Elle, what just happened.

Elle: Some phrases trigger repressed memories or shared prophecy. The phrase he used triggered a sudden recollection shared by the hive. Compliance was mandatory. The diamond must be returned. We must go now.

In the process of leaving I am reunited with Galen, Lennix is indisposed. Caught in the grip of the Merope and completely stoned he is virtually incoherent and unable to travel. So the fastest of the Formians and Thriae along with Galen and myself go in pursuit of our group and the diamond.

We press a grueling pace…we force march until Galen and I collapse…at which point the Formians begin to carry us. A moment of decision arrives when we begin spotting signs of our party mates. Small marks left on trees, discarded bits of trail ration and sign carved in the ground alerting us to their passage. We sigh and let the Formians know we are on the right path. A thriae scout flies back to notify she spotted the group pressing a hard pace of their own, they just reached the mountain pass. Within minutes of the diamond passing the mountain a series of storm clouds starts to build in the distance and spread with supernatural speed. Less than a hour later the rains arrive and begin to drench the earth. Amidst the raindrops and flashes of lightning other things materialize. Mostly pixies and grigs…but twisted and sardonically grinning as they cackle and buzz us.

Marx: The diamond has gone too far from it’s anchor… the wall is falling.

As the Formian speaks a flash of lightning splits a tree and a devlish imp appears…but is vibrantly colored and seems to have small gossamer wings as a secondary set of wings beyond the leathery bat wings it is typically associated with. It chirps and then vanishes from sight.

Galen: That can’t be good.

Marx stop on a dime and freezes as do the rest of the Ants and Bees. As one they all turn and we are dumped to the ground.

Wordlessly they reverse course and begin marching back to their homes. Elle looks over her shoulder in what is seemingly a great act of will and says softly…

Elle: We are under attack…retrieve the diamond or we are all doomed.

The dwarf and I are in game terms exhausted. Both of us are spent and are in the ascent of the mountains. Our supplies are meager…just whatever we had on us. I have the cold iron keen dagger and he has the short sword and we each have about 10 goblin toothed leprechaun arrows and maybe 20 each of the improvised weaker toothed arrows. Every clap of thunder and spout of rain sees more and more demonic-fey creatures materialize into the world proper, and instead of scurrying away they are starting to size up the two of us now alone. We figure we are about a day behind.

Galen: Maybe my horse can pull us a few more miles, we may have to tie ourselves to the saddle but if we can make the plateau…

Horse: I don’t think I can carry both of you chief.

*blink*

Mist: The horse is talking…is this an after effect of the Merope?

Galen: if it is I heard too.

Horse: The rain…the water seemed to wash away the haze. Changed my thinking. Everything got clearer.

Mist: He has been awakened.

Galen: Well old friend, I won’t push you any further.

Mist: If he has been awakened then what is going to happen to our livestock and everything else back home?

Galen: I imagine if we don’t reach the diamond in time they too will be awakened.

Mist: Right, which begs the question. What are we going to do?

Galen: We have to bring the diamond back.

Mist: That is not the job we signed up for.

Galen: Things have changed.

Mist: Have they? We haven’t cared about the outside world in the slightest, nothing indicates the diamond will not fix the barrier and shield our island. I think we still have an obligation to complete the mission. If the village decides returning it is more important that is a different situation but we don’t have the authority to make that choice on behalf of everyone.

Galen: I think the choice was taken from us the moment demonic fairies started coming in with the rain.

Mist: While problematic it is expected.

Galen: You expected a down pouring of demonic fairies? Are you kidding?

Mist: We knew strange stuff was happening, but we had noclue how strange, so while not that specifically “Strange” was something we anticipated happening.

Galen: Think about what you are saying. Damn near everything we have run into has been benign. Nothing has been outwardly hostile aside from the griffons which were looking for food. You are saying to hell with all that.

Mist: I am speaking on behalf of what we as a village decided. WE decided to shore up the barrier and remain safe and isolated. WE decided that safety of our own outstripped whatever madness the rest of the world now held. If WE decide that our priorities have changed then we will come back. But we had an agreement to return the diamond and that is what I intend to do. Pretty sure I have studied my target long enough…going for the assassin’s death attack on the dwarf.

The dagger enters just the ribs and pierces Galen’s heart. He never saw it coming. The horse stares at me in shock for a moment then tries to charge me…it too is exhausted and unable to do so. I leave the dagger and draw shortbow…sending a pair of arrows into the horse as a sneak attack. The following round it smashes me with a pair of hoofs and I eat the AOO to put two more arrows in at point blank range dropping the horse to a single knee. I step back and draw rapier…the final blow is swift and more of a mercy killing.

Mist: For what it’s worth Galen…I’ll field dress the horse and use as much of it as possible so he didn’t die in vain.

Galen: They won’t let you get away with this. They will bring it back.

Mist: Why would they? They don’t know anything about the barrier collapsing. Hell I don’t even really have to catch up with them, just let them do their thing. Goodbye old friend. I wish things had turned out differently.

DireSickFish
2016-10-26, 12:42 PM
Damn you are cold. I'm wondering where you're going to get a diamond to fix the barrier in 100 years from now. Were you int he room when he ran the escape session of the other half?

MintyNinja
2016-10-26, 01:08 PM
That was very nicely done. A great meeting of opposed viewpoints between friends. I can see this being another thing your group always looks back on.

Inevitability
2016-10-26, 01:08 PM
It seems DMing for the Undead Cowboys has taught Kaveman a thing or two. :smalltongue:

Kaveman26
2016-10-26, 01:29 PM
I was present during their escape, will cover that shortly.

Perhaps a bit more of a mean streak was planted after the u.c. Run. Perhaps indeed

Traab
2016-10-26, 06:52 PM
Hey, he had a point. As of right now, if that barrier collapses around the island, they will go through the entire awakening process and all sorts of things will take place. If they bring back the diamond, the barrier will PROBABLY hold off all that crap including the new stuff. Its cold, but why sacrifice your people for everyone else?

DireSickFish
2016-10-27, 12:35 PM
Hey, he had a point. As of right now, if that barrier collapses around the island, they will go through the entire awakening process and all sorts of things will take place. If they bring back the diamond, the barrier will PROBABLY hold off all that crap including the new stuff. Its cold, but why sacrifice your people for everyone else?

I'd make an effort to find a different replacement diamond for the town at least. In the end it'd depend a lot on my character weather I saved the town or saved the world. There are compelling reasons for both.

Kane0
2016-10-27, 05:18 PM
Having seen the world outside the bubble I'd reason that if we can survive, so can the village. Tearing open the fabric of this new reality to let the fey world back in is a far bigger problem, one that is more uncertain and more likely to result in a total FUBAR situation for both us and the village.
So I'd take the diamond back. Better to deal with a world of sapient animals and lots of fey than a whole multiverse worth of creatures forced into the fey realm and probably warped by it.

Beneath
2016-10-27, 05:35 PM
Having seen the world outside the bubble I'd reason that if we can survive, so can the village. Tearing open the fabric of this new reality to let the fey world back in is a far bigger problem, one that is more uncertain and more likely to result in a total FUBAR situation for both us and the village.
So I'd take the diamond back. Better to deal with a world of sapient animals and lots of fey than a whole multiverse worth of creatures forced into the fey realm and probably warped by it.

The party here are the village's best, living at the level cap, outfitted with the best the village can provide including the possibility of all the food they had stocked up for winter. Assuming that the average person from that village can survive because their heroes can (barely. remember all the close calls) is not a justified assumption to make.

Plus you'll have a magical barrier between you and everything else if you take the diamond back.

Not saying it's a good option, but there are reasons why it would be justified. Depends on how you value the lives of your village vs everyone else.

Kane0
2016-10-27, 06:48 PM
Hard to make further assumptions, but I'd say that presumably the village survived the horrible things in the world prior to the 100 years in isolation (including dragons and the like) so the removal of a lot of those threats is actually a good thing. Besides, you'll just have the same problem again in 100 years time (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/A_Big_Piece_of_Garbage).

DireSickFish
2016-10-27, 08:13 PM
Hard to make further assumptions, but I'd say that presumably the village survived the horrible things in the world prior to the 100 years in isolation (including dragons and the like) so the removal of a lot of those threats is actually a good thing. Besides, you'll just have the same problem again in 100 years time (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/A_Big_Piece_of_Garbage).

They have yet to come across a surviving human village. It's all been fey and awakened animals. Things that the barrier has kept at bay for 100 years. While many people made the jump to the Feywild, I doubt everyone did. Suddenly all your food animals become sentient. I doubt they're going to want to be slaughtered. So you have to replace all of that with vegetation, when the city is already low on food supplies. That or keep the animals as slaves to be slaughtered, who will no doubt rise up and try to fight back.

You'll get the same problem in 100 years, but that also means you have 100 years of prep time to get another diamond. They could send out a party ever 10 years to try and recover one, using some of the equipment the adventuring party is going to bring back.

The barrier failing puts all of the villagers lives at risk. Taking the gem puts everyone else besides the village at risk.

Kane0
2016-10-27, 08:49 PM
Now I can't help but think of this. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQMbXvn2RNI)

Also charm/dominate animal is easily doable at the levels they have access to.

Kaveman26
2016-10-28, 12:19 PM
All by Myself But Not Alone:

Perhaps a telling statement on players in general, but I caught more flack for killing the horse than Galen. I help myself to his specialized arrows, take the cold iron shortsword+1 and then make camp. Taking a full night to recover is stressful given the climate and constant popping of fey type creatures into the world. I survive the night unattacked and find myself in a predictament.

As I state to the party in absentia…I don’t need to catch up with them, my goal is to see the diamond returned to our island. If I can slow or divert any followers seeking to stop their progress it is better than me running by their side. However, if they are stopped, captured or killed in transit I need to pick up where they left off or assist them. To that end it is my hope to trail them and keep anything from following, but to also act as a rescue party should they get hung up or taken out.
Quick Recap:
Day 20: 810 Miles covered
Day 24: 900 Miles Covered
Days 25-29 Stuck In Bee Hive
Day 34: Destination Arrived Reset Clock to 1200 Miles
Days 35-40: Stoned inside an ant farm still 1200 miles
Days 41-50: Backbreaking forced march with the Bees and Formians 600 Miles to go:

Galen Dies on Day 51, leaving 29 days to cover the last 600 miles. Leaves some wiggle room especially as we are going across trails and territory we are familiar with. It is also to my benefit that I am getting signs and markers as they travel ahead of me.

But I am getting ahead of myself…

Willow, Lennix and Musan waited the required timeframe before starting a fire and once some Formians came to investigate they attacked the lead scout and then immediately melted away in separate directions. They played cat and mouse with the ants for hours at a time, never fully engaging or trying to cause lethal damage, just trying to draw as many out of the nest as possible.

The longer and longer they had to keep jostling the harder and harder it became. Eventually the Formians drove them out of the fully charred valley and pinned them in the pass where Murgal had to trigger a landslide to cover their escape. Having all but given up on us as dead or captured they kept one scout (Musan) local and returned to the Thriae Fortress for more of the mind tripping Merope. When Galen stumbled out with the diamond and collapsed they snatched the diamond and carried him back. Once they dropped him off they immediately set out on the return trip (minus Lennix who fulfilled his obligation).

For their part…Musan and Willow were prepared to pull a last stand and delay allowing Murgaltov to be the final currier returning the gem. Every step of their flight home was plagued with gremlins. The little buggers were literally popping out of thin air and swarming them day and night. Most were nuisances and easily dispatched, but the death of a thousand cuts is just as lethal as a single stroke. Every passing hour saw more blitz attacks or kamikaze assaults. Nights were the worst…the diamond seemed to draw them in like moths to a flame even more rapidly under cover of dark. As a result they began separating from each other to rest during the day and were prepared to move at night. A full’s night sleep was virtually non existent, with some cat naps and infrequent rest periods. Fatigue and exhaustion became constant factors. I knew none of this as I followed their backtrail.

Right about the time I was getting into the true mountain range they finally succumbed to a swarm of gremlins that took them captive and brought them to the highest point of the mountain. At the summit near the sight of an ancient circle of stones they bound the party as offerings and placed the diamond at the center of the circle where the moon’s light would fulfill their wish.

Back to Mist…

The mountain’s trails have been marked clearly by Skylan who is all but waiting for me as I enter the high country. He tips me off to the plight of our remaining group and only offers the following dire warning.

Skylan: Grems don’t like anyone, especially each other. The place they took your mates is fraught with old and dark magic. If they are waiting there no good can come out of it. I generally don’t like getting involved in matters that aren’t my own, but if you want someone to watch your back I would be happy to oblige.

Mist: Offer accepted. I more need you to watch the front and not my back though. When I come running from that circle I need as much of a distraction or impediment to whatever is following me.

Skylan: Could rig a few surprises…

I offer up the shortsword and he takes it with a skilled hand.

Skylan: Ain’t my old knife but it will do.

With nightfall deepening I find the circle and see the trio trussed up at the edge of fire. A larger and more grizzled gremlin is chanting and holding the diamond aloft. They don’t have much of a guard on the party who are in rough shape. I stealth my way to the place where they are bound and manage to subtly sever the ropes holding them. I risk a quick whisper amidst the gremlin chanting.

Mist: I am going for the diamond. Skylan is going to help me beat feet out of here. Heading hellbent for griffon territory. Get yourselves together and find a way into the plains.

Willow: They are going to come hard for you. Where’s Galen?

Mist: Dead.

Musan: Damn.

Mist: I am heading south out of here, there is a trail to the east…take that path.

I study the gremlin leader/chieftain and then make a charging attack with dagger in hand through their circle…the keen edge takes him clean at the throat leaving his head dangling like a pez dispenser and snatch the diamond from his limp hands and sprint out. Hell follows on my heels.

As I sprint through the night down a steep mountain trail I am convinced that I am about to blow a simple check and break my neck…somehow I don’t, and I as I run one step ahead of the twisting mass of gnashing teeth and sharp claws…trees begin falling behind me. I whisper a silent “thanks Skylan” and continue to run.

Staying ahead of the gremlin ritualists isn’t the problem…it’s the steady “pop” of ever larger demonically twisted fey creatures that keep appearing from thin air. By night’s end I am bleeding from half a dozen places and sucking wind. All but the last few “emergency” leprechaun arrows are spent. My mundane grem toothed arrows are empty. At the brink of collapse and with the baying of gremlin howls behind me and the specter of a demonic looking pixie materializing out of thin air I figure it is about curtains. A streak comes blurring through the space I occupy…it’s murgaltov astride a summoned mount…he snatches the diamond midstride and goes pounding off into the dawn. Musan and Willow follow his path in and take the Pixie in one feel swoop.

A wicked game of “who won’t collapse the soonest”. Once one of us gets rid of the fatigue status they set off in pursuit of Murgaltov while the others gather their breath. We survive until the morning but are now scattered and spent. The attacks seem to let up with the coming of the day, and I manage to spare enough air to ask what the heck is going on.

Willow: The gremlins are trying to twist some sort of gateway. If they can keep the diamond exposed to the moon for a full night it will subvert some sort of reverse migration.

Mist: Full moon is about gone now right?

Willow: You probably haven’t noticed…it has been a full moon every night since the diamond was snatched.

Mist: Well that’s ominous.

Willow: Nothing like a little game of capture the flag to go with ominous right?

Traab
2016-10-28, 01:08 PM
Dang this is crazy. Im actually really curious to see what will happen once they reach the trouble areas on the return trip. They must be close to the satyrs for example. I cant imagine the leprechauns would be very happy to see the swarm of grems being dragged along behind their staggered headlong flight to safety, and of course by the time they even REACH Sandbar and his wife, there is no telling what the state of the world will be.

DireSickFish
2016-10-28, 05:38 PM
Why is Lennix no longer with the group? Did he just miss a session?

A Tad Insane
2016-10-28, 05:40 PM
Why is Lennix no longer with the group? Did he just miss a session?

He had "obligations"
Obligatory "bow chicks wow wow"

Kaveman26
2016-10-29, 12:06 PM
Really Gets My Goat:

The Day gives us a chance to recuperate and regroup. The gremlin pursuit has halted and the stream of world hopping immigrants has slowed. Everyone collapses and makes a meal from our final rations. Everyone is wounded and without the bard we have no source of magical healing, so it is strictly a matter of time and waiting to recover health. We pool resources and find ourselves getting rough. We have a total of 17 leprechaun arrows, 21 goblin toothed mundane arrows, and only 50 or so standard broadheads. We have the cold iron greatclub and the serrated keen cold iron dagger. Willow can get the most mileage from the club, and it is decided for me to keep the dagger. Musan will focus mostly on using the chained kama when we are swarmed and he will be our main archer from range. Murgaltov still has his light crossbow and some bolts, but with the DR penalty from the Fey it is all but useless.

Willow: They want the diamond bad, can expect another long night.

Musan: Didn’t realize it was this big of a deal.

Mist: Well the Formians say it can act as a talisman to keep the fairy world sealed off from our own. Makes me think that if we survive the next several days and get it home we should be safe.

Murgaltov: What happened in the ant farm? How did you guys get delayed so long?

Mist: Well the Merope left us real messed up, felt like hours to us but was actually days. Galen managed to grab the diamond and I ran misdirection. They took me captive and marched me back to the Bee Ladies. The Ants and Bees formed a coalition to hunt down the diamond and while we were trying to catch up Galen got killed. The Coalition spontaneously split up and turned around to march back. I spent the time after that looking for you.

Murgaltov: You think we can make it?

Willow: Well at this pace I don’t see how. Without a way to get them off our trail or off our scent we can’t cover the miles without being picked apart.

Musan: I don’t think they are scent tracking us. They are honing in on the diamond. Whoever is holding it is their main target. We are just in the way.

Mist: yeah, but one of us has to carry the diamond in order to get it home.

Murgaltov: Not exactly. Could wrap it up in a sack, shove it a backpack and tie it to a summoned mount. Let that be ground center for random attacks out of nowhere. When they swarm the horse we smash whatever is attacking. Basically buys us 1-2 rounds of free whack a mole.

Operation Shoot The Horse goes into effect that evening and it works splendidly. Every twisted nasty bugger popping in to snatch the diamond is immediately surrounded and pounded to dust. We are forced to slow the pace but manage to preserve ourselves and avoid getting overwhelmed. We spend a trio of days following that same kind of pattern, fending off assaults by sacrificing the summoned steeds and manage to get back to a semblance of full health.

As we approach Satyr territory the tension ramps up a bit, as we aren’t sure what to expect from the previously encountered Fey. The one we cut loose all but guaranteed consequences if we were spotted with cold iron or gremlin toothed weapons, but we are keeping those fairly well concealed. In the dead of night we approach the outskirts of the Satyr camp and try to swing around it…in some fashion we are spotted because a series of shrill pipes sound off and trigger the lighting of several large bonfires. Satyrs are spotted in war gear, weapons bare sprinting into the shadows and their music comes from every direction. The ones we manage to spot in decent light are twisted abberations of the creatures we were nearly seduced by. Their baying is far more animalistic and feral. Their music is discordant and seems to rouse a blood lust.

Whatever hold the diamond possesses over those creatures coming into the world is different than the creatures already here, as they ignore the bait horse and seem to sniff out the cold iron weapons. Had we not recovered over the previous few days we would have surely been goners. They attack in coordination from the dark and then melt away, taunting us from beyond sight. The blows they land are clearly poisoned and designed to sap strength and mobility. At one point Willow tees up a readied attack and damn near decapitates a younger male with a single swing of the leprechaun club. Murgaltov returns missile fire with spells into the night and Musan picks his targets with the non leprechaun remaining arrows. We survive until dawn…barely. As the light starts to creep over the land the ferocity and savagery of the Satyrs attacks and their appearance softens. The light seems to drive the corruption from them and a semblance of sanity is restored. The Satyr leader Auburn approaches us with bare hands and a request for parley.

Auburn: Something is happening and we can’t explain it. Please leave this place with speed so that the Touch does not take us again.

Musan: The Touch?

Auburn: You carry the Queen’s Tear, a relic of an ancient Fairy Queen. A single tear was shed from each of her eyes. The joy of her beloved children and the sorrow of their evil siblings. The light of the moon amplifies their affect and Touches the Fey-Kin. Once every century the Tear’s are vulnerable to theft. During this time the moon rises full every night and should those with evil intentions capture it the world will fall into darkness and depravity. Even worse should the two tears be joined under the light of a full moon the Fairy Queen’s consort will rise again. He will make an offering to her to attempt to win her favor. An offering of blood and skulls.

Mist: Getting this thing away and safe is our top priority.

Willow: Wait…if the diamond we hold already is the second tear…then if we bring this back.

Mist: We better make sure it isn’t during a full moon.

Murgaltov: Starting to feel like we are getting played.

Mist: Starting to feel like it isn’t anything we can solve out here. We can’t just chuck it into the grass and leave, and it is further back than forward. We are committed to getting it home and settling it then. But agreed…we need to be cautious and avoid making landfall during the night.

Inevitability
2016-10-29, 01:09 PM
Murderfairy prince? I'm looking forward towards the end boss fight already.

Traab
2016-10-29, 01:50 PM
At this point I would beg for weapons and supplies. Be like, "We are trying to get out of here as fast as possible, but we are going to run out of weapons at this rate. Do you have anything we can use that would work on the fey attacking us? The better equipped we are, the farther away from you we can get."

Demon 997
2016-10-29, 02:31 PM
Also the less equipped the Satyr's are for the next night.

Inevitability
2016-10-29, 03:18 PM
Also the less equipped the Satyr's are for the next night.

Indeed. CN doesn't tend to be the type who puts their own life in danger to help someone else out.

Traab
2016-10-30, 09:50 AM
Indeed. CN doesn't tend to be the type who puts their own life in danger to help someone else out.

The thing is, if the adventure party cant get far enough away from the satyrs, they will transform again and they dont want to. So its in their best interest to help the adventure party on its way as fast as possible.

A Tad Insane
2016-10-30, 11:35 AM
The thing is, if the adventure party cant get far enough away from the satyrs, they will transform again and they dont want to. So its in their best interest to help the adventure party on its way as fast as possible.

It's also in the satyrs best interest to be as heavily armed as possible when the gremlin hoard shows up, then the pixie demons, followed by the fairy dragon.

Traab
2016-10-30, 11:56 AM
It's also in the satyrs best interest to be as heavily armed as possible when the gremlin hoard shows up, then the pixie demons, followed by the fairy dragon.

Im not saying they should strip naked and let the party claim anything they want, but the attacks are centered on whoever has the diamond and even a couple extra arrows from each satyr would be a big help on making it another days travel away from them without weakening them much. Yeah long term if they fail the satyrs will need plenty of weapons, but they have time as they arent the ones under near endless attack by the fairy realm.

GrayDeath
2016-10-30, 05:04 PM
Uh, nice play there .... unless the village itself does not know what it holds the players are being played...otherwise the village seems to have been a "hide a thing for a century and wait, subtlxy manipulating them to get me what i want" plot from Oberons darker Version.

Love it. :D

Kaveman26
2016-11-05, 01:26 PM
Winged Death:

The night following our flight through satyr territory brings a satisfying development. The gremlins and various abberant fey tainted creatures pouring into the world are being heavily ambushed by the griffons that so efficiently dive bombed our group. We are able to press a strong steady pace through the night and grin with satisfaction at each scream of panic when the attackers are plucked from the ground and carried away to be consumed.

It feels like almost no time has passed as each day melts into the next, but before we know it we are arriving at The End of Rainbow and are in a sense eager to meet up with the leprechauns. We time our arrival to coincide with noon and are anxiously optimistic that they will replicate their little trick and replenish our supply of arrows.

The creaking of their rocking chairs is a welcome sound and within minutes of our arrival both Liam and Owen make themselves visible. They are blatantly aged and their jovial selves seem sunken in and gaunt.

Liam: Looks like you have been ruffled a bit yourselves I might say.

Owen: Oh aye Liam…been a long road for them no doubt.

Mist: It has not been without incident.

Willow: Most of your kin have been less than satisfied with us.

The two leprechauns share a long uneasy look with each other and finally sigh in defeated surrender.

Liam: Listen here, you are good lads and me brother and I did are our best, broke our own rules to help you out, but we need to come clean.

Owen: You sure about this Liam?

Liam: Aye Owen. Our days are numbered, suppose we can at least have a good smoke before Old Scratch comes a calling. When your number is up, and the reaper has you in his sights there ain’t much reason to try and hide at the back of the line.

Owen: Carry on brother. I hold no ill will towards you.

Liam: See here’s the thing lads. Us fairy folk have a knack for being mischevious. Most of it is in good fun and ain’t particularly malicious. There are some of us that downright enjoy suffering and sorrow. We ain’t that different from most folk to be honest, but most of our urges are tied to our lieges. What I am about to tell you is as sure a means to find a death sentence as any, but we are getting long in the tooth as it is. Every hundred years our Queen is put to a decision as to how she will rule the fairy kingdom. It is a time for swinging the arrow towards mischief or misery. Some of us folk had the idea to break the cycle and they partnered up with some of the folks on this side of the door to do just that. The bauble you are carrying is one of the Queen’s Tears. They were separated and held afar so as to force a balance amongst the fairy folks. Should her Tear’s be reunited under the light of a full moon she suitor will come a calling. He is a downright evil bugger and a nasty sod not deserving of her affection. Should he offer a gift unto her it will be a bloody feast. You know most of this already. Here is what you don’t know…what none of the folk will tell you.

Owen: He needs to come. The Queen is old and her time is past. Should he come to her and be accepted by her side it will mean a reaping upon this world but a renewal of ours. Your kin will the pay price for our lot to start fresh and whole. A vibrant young lass will replace our Queen and the balance we forced out of sync will right itself…but the backlash here will be strong. We don’t want to pay the price but the bill is due.

Liam: Aye…we been talking about your barrier and your island and we think we have figured it out. For the last hundred years your Tear has pushed the world away…now that the tide is turning…the whole lot of the fairy realm is coming back and they will return to your home with a fury and anger swollen over the course of a century.

Willow: I am lost. Are you telling us that it’s a good idea to bring it back or not.

Owen: Well it boils down to this. If you don’t…your island and the rest of the world will be plunged into another century of destruction and chaos. If you do…your home will more than likely be destroyed and the rest of the world will be able to move on and rebuild.

Musan: I am waiting for Door 3. Please tell me there is a Door 3.

Liam: Unless you think you can kill the Queen’s Suitor there ain’t. He is a keen foe and bears powerful magic…old magic. But that Door has a narrow opening. You need to wait for the Queen to grow young again, and you would have to strike before the two touched. He will want to bring her a token of his affection and his affections run bloody.

As the leprechaun’s trail off a horse’s snort is heard by all and we turn rapidly to see a spectral black coach with four black stallions shimmering in the air. The coachmen is wearing a black cloak and on the seat next to him is a scythe. The two little men share a brief hug and pull their creaky selves out of their chairs. They give us a slight nod and begin to walk to the coach. Willow hefts the club and Liam waves him off.

Liam: Tis our time lads. Our tale simply called the hearse a little quicker. I hope things work out for you lads. There is some “supper” in the kitchen if you feel a bit peckish.

The emphasis on supper is subtle enough to barely draw attention, but pronounced enough to stand out to us. The coach seems to run in place while getting further away and then vanishes, leaving us in the ghost town with a now empty pair of rocking chairs. Solemnly and a bit disturbed we make our way inside the leprechaun’s house and find a fine feast presented on the table. With no silverware or cutlery present we head to the cupboard and find a trove of weapons and armor.

The weight of history hangs heavy on every blade and handle within the cupboard. Murgaltov is speechless simply saying that virtually every item is bristling with magical power. A compulsion settles over us, compelling us to choose a single weapon and single armor.

Willow finds himself drawn to a two handed monster of a claymore, emeralds cut into the shape of ivy and clover adorn the scabbard and the blade shimmers with an unearthly sheen. It is a cold iron feybane greatsword+3. A hauberk of twisted dark cherry wood, with ruby eyes catches his attention. It is a unique and magical breastplate forged from a rare wood harder than steel. It functions as a breastplate+2 that provides him a minor displacement affect against Fey.

Musan finds a gnarled oaken quarterstaff with runes and a silver filigree wrapped the entire length of the staff. It virtually hums when he picks it up and seems to quiver in his hands. It is a cold iron quarterstaff+3 of speed. He also finds an intricate kilt of black and silver that when worn causes a series of vines to spread across his skin, granting him a barkskin effect and a mage armor effect all at once.

None of the weapons seems to “call” Murgaltov’s attention. He does find a mug at the rear of the cupboard…ceramic and sturdy he finds himself picking it up and as he does a golden whiskey seems to fill it from nowhere. It is relayed to us that drinking the “leprechaun cough syrup” grants luck bonuses to his saving throws, DC checks of spells cast and a bonus to his AC. He also finds bracers when fitted to his arms cover his entire body in a stone paint that grants him a stoneskin effect.

When Mist comes to the cupboard most of the items are repelled by his presence. At the rear of the top shelf I find a shortbow that is made of a bone material, like a spinal cord twisted into bow shape. It defies practical physics and the strings are grasped by small bony talons. The string is almost invisible and razor sharp. Simply pulling it back causes intense pain and lacerates the hands. Attached is a quiver of 20 arrows. The arrows are all cold iron+1 feybane, the bow itself functions as a +3 composite shortbow (+4str) with a unique wounding bonus. Every arrow fired causes the bearer 1d6 damage but each successful attack returns half the damage dealt back to the user. There is also a leather armor set, all black and almost silken in texture. When worn it grants improved invisibility against Fey for 1 minute per day.

Laden with the trove of leprechaun treasures we sit down to the fine feast and try to formulate a plan for the end game.

Willow: This is definitely a damned if we do, damned if we don’t scenario. I wouldn’t feel right if we didn’t try to kill the Consort. Especially with all this anti fey gear.

Murgaltov: I am all for going broke for a good outcome, but I’m not sure about the where. If we head home we are bringing hell with us.

Mist: We are past the point of no return. We wouldn’t be able to get the diamond back to the Formians even if every advantage fell our way.

Willow: We need to unite the two diamonds and control the location. Home is a place we can control, but also where the most damage will fall.

Musan: We have a comfortable timeframe to get home. Can we push the limits and get there and back?

Murgaltov: There and Back?

Musan: We split up. Murgaltov and I race home to get the second diamond and we meet you back here. Willow and Mist rig up the best possible traps or ambush they can from the town and we let them reunite at The End of The Rainbow where we take out the Consort. The only blood to be spilled will be our own or any random fairy creatures that wander in. Takes the danger off the island and lets it implode here.

(I lost track of some of the days and miles here but suffice it to say we calculated that they could get to the island and back with about two days or less to spare)

The monk and sorcerer split off in a race to recover the second Tear while Willow and I stage the best ambush we can. We find a cold iron cauldron from the killed gremlins earlier and Willow smashes the lid closed with the diamond inside. We put the encased diamond under a church bell and basically hope it will act as an attractor for the fey invaders, and hopefully give us some breathing room.

We rig some less than elegant dead fall traps and set up the last of our emergency shortbows and crossbows as trip wire-fire the bow style inconveniences. Several random invaders try to recover the diamond but they are dealt with by the cold iron arsenal.

Musan and Murgaltov are surprisingly unaccosted as they race back home. We salvage enough provisions from the leprechaun house so as not to starve and the remaining rations go to the monk and sorcerer. Willow and I manage to forage while we await their return. The only obstacle that gets in their way is Sandbar. When they reach the swamp tributary the massive dire crocodile and his mate are waiting, along with about thirty hatchlings…each the size of a normal fully grown crocodile. They are somewhat grumpy. The swamp has been scoured clean of food, and a meaty half elf and gillman looks awfully tasty.

Murgaltov: If you feed yourself to a crocodile you feed him for a day. If you follow us back to the edge of the river we can feed you for a lifetime. An All You Can Eat Buffet is coming to town and we would welcome you as a guest to eat your fill. If you give us a chance to pass I promise we will return with some cattle as a token of good will.

Sandbar: It would be easier and safer to just eat you now. But I have a family to worry about, so I will risk the chance of disappointment. Return quickly. The elf stays as collateral. If you aren’t back in three days we eat him.

Murgaltov manages to get back to the home island and hastily tries to explain the situation, pausing only long enough to grab the diamond from the tower and bolt out the door. No elves are eaten and the duo makes the return trip with a float of crocodiles in tow, all for the price of a handful of cattle. They rendezvous back at The End of the Rainbow the day before the century mark arrives.

Traab
2016-11-05, 01:51 PM
Wow man, holy crap this has suddenly gotten epic in scale.I cant wait to see how it all ends.

Alent
2016-11-05, 03:45 PM
... the duo makes the return trip with a float of crocodiles in tow, all for the price of a handful of cattle.

They did it again. :smallamused:

Demon 997
2016-11-06, 09:22 AM
Your group's ability to weapon cattle is a wonder and an inspiration.

ImperatorV
2016-11-06, 12:44 PM
Their ability to weaponize anything is inspiring. Remember Das Vagon anyone? Lyre of building siege? Weaponized pies? Weaponized sprinklers?

Kaveman26
2016-11-08, 08:59 AM
Wedding Night: Worst Honeymoon Ever

As prepared as we can be, we turn in for the night to get some rest and are awoken to a surprise. A staggering and blood shot Lennix has wandered into camp.

Willow: Good to see you mate! How did you get here?

Lennix: I did my week’s worth of duty and then was cut loose to bring back my replacement. The merope has a kick man…hard to leave it, but I figured I can make it back after tomorrow. Hey…how did you get a second diamond?

Mist: Long Story. Get some sleep. Hell breaks loose in a few hours.

Lennix raids the leprechaun cupboard and comes away with a ridiculously ornate rapier with swept basket hilt…it is a cold iron +3 rapier of flaming burst. He also finds a chain shirt that grants him energy resistance 10 of all types.

We figure high noon is the best point to try and expose the diamonds to each other. Figure that is as far from the full moon as possible. No sooner does the light of day touch both diamonds, then they fly towards each other and start swirling. A small almost mouselike figure with crystalline wings takes form and begins to hover in mid-air. It’s whiskers are silver and it’s fur obviously twinged in grey. It virtually ignores us as it’s large eyes dart all around. With an excited squeak it turns it’s attention to the forest where a sleek fox emerges from the brush. It’s coloring is vividly bright and it’s ear comically large. As it trots from the wood a pack of smaller foxes emerges along with it. With every passing step the mouse-ish Fairy Queen grows larger and more humanoid and the foxes grow in size also becoming more humanoid. The crocodile pack leaps into action long before the two sides come together and the foxes seem to vanish and reappear from random directions. Snapping jaws find air and within moments each crocodile is being torn at with jaws far stronger than their size would seem possible. The “Prince” engages Sandbar and it is a blur of movement. Blood runs freely and is spread in gleeful abandon. The Labrador sized foxes carry dead crocodiles at least 13 feet in length as if they are weightless and the Prince who can’t weigh more than a hundred pounds drags the bus length Sandbar without breaking it’s stride. The scattered few hatchlings and Sandbar’s mate retreat in a flurry and we are left speechless.

In total seven foxes and the prince are approaching us. Our courage is leaking out with every passing step and all thoughts of ambush are fading along with it. Musan does his best to rally some semblance of reason.

Musan: If we run we all die. If we run everyone we call family and friend dies. If we stand maybe some of us make it out alive and maybe we preserve all those counting on us at home. No matter what comes, don’t let the mouse and fox touch.

When they reach bow range Musan, Lennix and I put our last goblin toothed leprechaun arrows into flight targeting the prince…one arrow lands and we cheer the minor victory of seeing the invisible teeth go to work and the fox yelping in pain. A single fox remains with the prince and two of the guard all tear off at breakneck speed towards us three archers. The Prince does not alter his pace in the slightest. We figure on having one round to react before the escorts are on us. Murgaltov puts a magic missile at the lead fox heading as we switch to our last few lesser got teeth shafts. The missiles are not enough and the following round it is down to blade and tooth. The serrated keen dagger takes the wounded fox charging me in the chest and it goes limp mid air…momentum nearly throwing me from my feet. The second one finishes the trip and I find supernaturally sharp teeth snapping at my jugular. Musan baseball bat crushes the lead fox attacking him with the quarterstaff and in a flurry of blows he sends it flying through the air a corpse. Lennix and Murgaltov are tangled with their own pair of foxes and fighting to stay their teeth.

I find half my health gone after a second biting attack and I scramble to twist dagger into the powerful canine pinning me to the ground. It’s blood pours from the jagged wound and it is like fire on my skin. Willow who was supposed to wait in ambush for the Prince as a surprise attack is forced to intervene and save Lennix. Their teeth are lethal and we find ourselves damn near routed from a handful of bite attacks. Musan is clubbing the final escort fox when the Prince breaches the perimeter of the village. Lennix and Murgaltov try to trip it up with spells…but the webs and rays seem to bounce off of it. Willow and Musan leap into the fray against the prince who reluctantly drops his dire crocodile gift and takes a defensive stance. Thoughts of ignoring the escorts are cast aside and I draw the wounding bow and feybane arrows to kill the last escort. A claw, claw, bite attack on Musan nearly tears the monk’s head off and he ragdoll tossed as he falls to negative health. Lennix makes a running sprint to reach his side and administer healing.

Willow’s claymore falls in huge power strokes that send fur flying and the fox yelping. The health I am supposed to regain from hitting my targets seems to have been false advertising as I continue to take damage with every arrow sent from the string. When I fall into single digits I am forced to abandon the bow and heft dagger again. Almost unnoticed the Queen has drawn closer to the fox and they are nearly in touching range. Murgaltov snatches the cold iron cauldron and leaps from his summoned mount to stuff the flying mouse inside like a jar. The proximity sees the fox take bidepal form and his claws become longer and almost metallic. More teeth appear in it’s mouth and a trio of attacks sees him almost swallow Willow’s head whole…the fox twists and when it releases the barbarian is nearly decapitated…falling to the ground dead.

A stumbling Musan manages to trip the Consort Prince and a slashing claw from the ground disembowels the badly wounded monk, who snaps off one last swing of staff before expiring. As the fox pivots to head towards the now captured Queen I manage to shank him with the keen dagger from behind.

Mist: Murgal! Mount up and get her away from him. Lennix…fall back and grab the arrows from my quiver.

The Gillman grabs the cauldron with the queen inside and shoves it into a sack then jumps up…summoned horse appearing under him. Every hoofbeat sees the fox prince shrink slightly and I take solace in surviving two bite attacks…each met with a dagger into it’s ribs that connects as consolation. I die to the third bite. The fox begins sprinting after Murgaltov who is circling to keep the Prince within bow range of Lennix who is pumping shot after shot towards the orange streak. The arrows run out just as the fox pulls the horse down sending the gillman tumbling…he shoves the cauldron as far away as possible. The Fox bypasses the sorcerer and heads to the cauldron….Lennix’s rapier takes him in the back and the yelp brings blood out as the Prince grows in size. Holding the sack he is now bordering seven feet tall and looks sinister as heck. Willow’s greatsword smashes the side of the fox prince’s head with all the grace of a club as Murgaltov somehow managed to make the non proficient attack roll using the dead barbarians greatsword. The blow is clumsy and not exactly propelled with a great deal of force, but the weight of the enchantment and the bane component of it’s design pack a punch on it’s own.

The Prince is panting and leaking blood from several wounds and appears staggered. Lennix presses the advantage and lands a second piercing rapier strike. Murgaltov summons a fresh mount, throws the sack on it and then slaps it’s rump giving it a mental command to run. The prince almost as if driven by compulsion ignores the cold iron blades and starts to lope off after the running horse. Lennix continues a parallel course and makes a second probing thrust while Murgaltov drops the sword and tries to launch spells after the fox. The spells are mostly ineffectual but the third one manages to penetrate. On the fourth round Lennix plunges his rapier to the hilt through the Consort’s torso. The Prince falls to his knees and gurgles blood, falling over into the grass.

The Horse vanishes in mid stride and the cauldron/sack levitate in mid air. A burst of rainbow light sees a fully formed fairy woman radiating in the sky. Now fully rejuvenated and refreshed a dizzying array of light and sound bursts from her and spreads across the land. As if chasing the epicenter of sound the satyr clan appears their pipe music preceeding them. They kneel before the new Queen and she smiles and then disappears.

Murgaltov: We need to hurry and see if anyone can be saved. Might be in negatives but not dead.

Sadly the sorcerer and bard are the only survivors.

Lennix: Damn.

Murgaltov: Go home Lennix. Tell them this story and make them remember, so that if this day comes again our descendants know what to do.

Lennix: We need to fulfill the bargain with the Thriae.

Murgaltov: I will go. There are none of my own kind back home, and I am unlikely to find any out here. Maybe it’s time for a new kind. Who knows…maybe an amphibious humanoid bee with gills will be Murgaltov Jr.

There is not a lot more, other than Lennix and Murgaltov both reach their destinations. Lennix comes home with some new companions…A trio of hatchling dire crocodiles and their witch mother accompany the bard back to the island, where he assures them safe haven and food.

Perhaps somewhere down the road a new species of aquatic bee is formed. No matter what comes the Fairy’s tell their own goodnight stories of the band of “people” who raced the moon and held off the night.

FocusWolf413
2016-11-08, 10:26 AM
That came to a very satisfying end. Could you post stats for the Fairy Prince?

Kane0
2016-11-08, 04:57 PM
Excellent work Kaveman!

Traab
2016-11-08, 07:59 PM
Whew, on heck of an ending there! Heh, that went by really fast, it was kinda shocking that the final battle happened. I admit to being a bit confused by the outcome. What exactly was the end result? Did they save the world? What happened to the island nation and its shield? Did the fairy invasion end for another hundred years?

Ice
2016-11-10, 01:48 AM
Very nice. perhaps when you sit down a upload maps for the necroranchers you could also upload one for this campaign as well? pretty please? i assume you have one at least.

Cheers, Thanks for the read!

oshi
2016-11-10, 08:29 PM
Thanks for taking the time once again Kaveman :D

Kaveman26
2016-11-11, 01:37 PM
So I'm making a to do list:

Post maps for necroranchers

Post maps for the overland fairy race

Stats for the fox prince

What else am I missing?

Ice
2016-11-11, 08:51 PM
So I'm making a to do list:

Post maps for necroranchers

Post maps for the overland fairy race

Stats for the fox prince

What else am I missing?

Umm, participate in another amazing campaign because these logs are amazing! Im sure i am not the only one who feels that way!

halfeye
2016-11-11, 09:41 PM
Umm, participate in another amazing campaign and write it up because these logs are amazing! Im sure i am not the only one who feels that way!

FTFY and +1 :smallsmile:

Pretty pretty, please, if you would be so kind. :smallbiggrin:

Traab
2016-11-12, 06:02 PM
Umm, participate in another amazing campaign because these logs are amazing! Im sure i am not the only one who feels that way!

Rofl, yeah, pretty much this. Makes me wish you could take these adventures and just write books about your friends and the various campaigns you go on. Flesh the detail out a bit for page count and you could have an interesting series of novels.

halfeye
2016-11-21, 02:59 PM
I want you to produce output.

So do whatever you want to do that involves producing output.

If that means 250 maps first, if they're dire to me, at worst I can ignore them, but I'll probably look at at least the first couple.

Stories are what I prefer, but that's just me, I don't know whether anyone else at all feels the same way.

As a life thing, do whatever you want to do, I'd prefer it if that involved you writing stories, but it's your life, you should do whatever suits you and the life you want to lead and enjoy.

Kaveman26
2016-11-22, 05:23 PM
Well I'm collating as many maps as I can find to post probably in their own thread. Waiting for a full day off without interruptions to tackle that

I have 30+ pages written from our dark sun campaign.

And I also have 30+ pages of a first draft for a full blown novel I have ruminating on for a while. I don't think that would be a fit for any thread through here but I may send directly to anyone interesting in reading and or providing feedback.

I have been alternating free time writing fiction and recapping dark sun which is ongoing and so far pretty awesome. Trying to build a bigger block to drop at once for that

PrismCat21
2016-11-22, 07:59 PM
Take your time.

I'm willing to take a look at anything you send me. :)

Ice
2016-11-23, 06:09 PM
likewise, take your time. Im sure everything you write about turns out awesome and i wouldn't mind reading you novel.

Tenmujiin
2016-11-23, 11:30 PM
I'd love to take a look at your novel and I'm looking fowards to the dark sun campaign.

Demidos
2016-11-25, 01:18 PM
I would love to read your fiction novel! Beware though, I have been known to correct english majors on grammar and give deep and thoughtful feedback, and that was just yesterday (no, really).

But really, I've edited stories that ran for hundreds of pages, and I would love to help in any way.

FocusWolf413
2016-11-25, 05:32 PM
I would love to take a look at the novel.

halfeye
2016-11-25, 07:16 PM
Novels are good, collections of short stories are also fine.

NecroDancer
2017-01-03, 01:18 PM
Great campaign!