Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Erkonin (Campaign #2) [Session 45: Rajalmin's Agent]
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="prabe" data-source="post: 8044909" data-attributes="member: 7016699"><p>Session 2: Hungry Wolves and Things That Gibber</p><p></p><p>Dramatis Personae:</p><p></p><p>Aldalómiel - Wood Elf Ranger</p><p>Elama “Lamie” Galanodel- Wood Elf Cleric (Tempest)</p><p>Vinya Anar - Wood Elf Monk</p><p>Elderon - High Elf Wizard (Loremaster)</p><p>Marxine Deepfoot - Dwarf Fighter</p><p>Mia - Firbolg Druid</p><p></p><p>GM: - Everyone Else</p><p></p><p>1 Marroin 749 (Campaign day 2) (that same morning)</p><p></p><p>As Elama waited impatiently at the gates of the caravanserai, Aldalómiel went to see about buying herself some studded leather armor with the money we just got. Elderron disappeared for a while and returned with an owl on his shoulder and introduced it as Oda.</p><p></p><p>We got the cart and horses that the cultists had arrived in (otherwise the caravanserai would just have to take care of them) and were heading out the door when a dwarf with a big axe ran out of the inn and placed herself in front of the horses, forcing us to stop.</p><p></p><p>She then climbed into the wagon.</p><p></p><p>Marxine: I’m coming with you. I can’t let this sit.</p><p></p><p>She then took the reins from Elama, and sat down, pushing Elama to move aside.</p><p></p><p>We stared at her for a moment until she explained that her name was Marxine Deepfoot and she had been working as a guard for the caravan of dwarves (the ones at the table together in the tavern the night before). Her people were attacked and she was not there to protect them. She wanted to make that right.</p><p></p><p>We all agreed that she was welcome to join us. (We weren’t entirely sure how to get her not to come with us without making a huge big deal of it but she also seemed like she’d be a good ally.)</p><p></p><p>The roads were soft but not too mucky, so the tracks remained clear. Because of the festival and the coming of winter there wasn’t a ton of traffic on the road, so Aldalómiel, walking along in front of the horses, was able to keep us on the right path. (We stayed on the road and didn’t take any side paths, so it wasn’t too hard.) The road was surrounded by woods and forest, varying in density but always wooded with a patchy mix of deciduous and coniferous trees. Though by the winter solstice, the deciduous trees were all bare.</p><p></p><p>As we travelled we introduced ourselves and told Marxine about what we’d found in the journal in the wagon (about the machine) and the little we knew. Vinya also spent some time trying to make friends with Oda the owl, giving it tidbits of jerky.</p><p></p><p>The air was cold and there was a breeze.</p><p></p><p>The day passed with us traveling along at a gentle pace, talking and getting to know one another.</p><p></p><p>We made camp shortly before sundown -- not because we were tired, but because the horses (as yet unnamed) needed a break. Marxine, familiar with the habits and practices of the caravaneers in a way the rest of us weren’t, found a good campsite, probably one that had been used before. It was well away from a crossroads, because apparently those are dangerous at night in the wilderness.</p><p></p><p>We set watches, taking advantage of the four elves in the party and their need for only four hours of rest to keep three people on watch all night and get everyone a full night’s sleep.</p><p></p><p>Or in theory, anyway -- because halfway through the first watch, Vinya, Elama and Marxine were surprised by two stealthy ogres who snuck up on our camp.</p><p></p><p>Read that sentence again.</p><p></p><p>Vinya and Marxine were relatively close to the wagon, Lamie had taken up a position in a tree so she could see from above.</p><p></p><p>Vinya ran past the cart where the others were sleeping, whacking on the side of it with her quarterstaff and yelling “Get up” as she went by, then she went to attack the one that had snuck up on Elama. Elderron stuck his head out of the cart and fired off some magic missiles at the one that was attacking Marxine.</p><p></p><p>Vinya got tent-pegged by the one she was fighting, but fortunately Lamie was there to heal her up and do some damage with a sacred flame. The one on Marxine tried more of a golf swing, but missed.</p><p></p><p>We were further surprised when a large woman with soft, kind eyes ran out of the woods and moved behind the one on Marxine, getting into a position where both of them would have flanking.</p><p></p><p>Aldalómiel came out of the wagon and pulled out a sling (a sling?) and took a shot at the one on Lamie and Vinya.</p><p></p><p>Marxine, to the large woman: You better be on my side!!</p><p></p><p>Then Marxine took a swing with her great axe and got a great hit against the ogre they were flanking.</p><p></p><p>Vinya was dropped when one of the ogres got a great hit on her. Fortunately, the other one missed Marxine. Once again Lamie healed Vinya - getting her back on her feet.</p><p></p><p>Marxine and the large woman (we later learned her name was Mia) did great work against their ogre, doing lots of damage as they hit it from both sides.</p><p></p><p>Vinya was far less successful, repeatedly missing with her quarterstaff, but stomping on its bunions or kicking it in the shins with her unarmed attack. Vinya also got dropped again. And healed up and brought back by Elama, again.</p><p></p><p>Finally at the very end, Marxine was dropped by a mighty hit just a second before Mia killed the one they’d been fighting. Aldalómiel, having pulled her bow out, killed the one that kept dropping Vinya.</p><p></p><p>Before anyone could react, Mia shoved some berries down Marxine’s throat.</p><p></p><p>Mia: They’re very good berries.</p><p></p><p>Indeed they were, because almost immediately Marxine took a deep breath and groaned and woke up.</p><p></p><p>That’s when the woman, very tall and with the most gentle eyes and pointed ears, introduced herself to us as “Mia, Firbolg.”</p><p></p><p>Vinya: I’m Vinya Anar. This is…</p><p>Mia: Oh. Oh, no. You are Vinya. I’ll learn another name tomorrow.</p><p></p><p>Mia told us that the ogres had attacked her village - she was following them through the forest to make sure they didn’t turn back and attack it again.</p><p></p><p>Mia stayed with us for the rest of the night, watching and resting. It passed without further incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>2 Marroin 749 (Campaign day 3)</p><p></p><p>The next morning, we set about breaking camp. Vinya wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but as we were getting ready to leave, Mia helped with the horses and there was no question that she would be traveling with us.</p><p></p><p>Marxine was once again driving. Aldalómiel walked ahead of the horses and Mia walked next to them, talking to them and soothing them. The others were riding in the cart.</p><p></p><p>After a few hours of traveling, Aldalómiel alerted us to four wolves ahead of us. Marxine pulled the cart to a halt.</p><p></p><p>Mia, to the horses: They’re only wolves. Don’t worry.</p><p></p><p>Then she tried to shoo the wolves away.</p><p></p><p>Elderron noticed that the wolves looked sick -- scrawny and with rough fur. Aldalómiel shot one with her longbow, putting an arrow all the way through its chest and dropping it in one shot. The other stopped moving forward and held their ground, growling in a hostile manner.</p><p></p><p>Elama used thaumaturgy to make a loud, booming thunderous sound a few feet in front of the three remaining wolves.</p><p></p><p>Elama, shouting: Fly you fools!!</p><p></p><p>The rest of the wolves ran off and away into the woods.</p><p></p><p>Mia examined the body of the one Aldalómiel dropped -- they were badly underfed, which surprised her. Given their body condition, it seemed like they’d been hungry for a while, more than just a few days.</p><p></p><p>Mia: It’s been a good year. There is food. Why are they starving?</p><p></p><p>Elderron spent a bit of time to cast detect magic to see if there was any magical effect on it and found that there was definitely something unnatural about it.</p><p></p><p>Vinya: Maybe the wolves got into the machine, whatever that is, and this is the wolf version of that sort of craziness.</p><p></p><p>Elderron sent Oda flying up 100 feet to see if he could see anything standing out from the general forest canopy, but he could not.</p><p></p><p>On high alert for more weird wolves, we continued following the wagon tracks and, as it turned out the wolf tracks, which had come from the same direction.</p><p></p><p>A bit before the end of the day, we noticed that the wolf tracks diverged from the tracks of the cart. The wolves had walked from the forest onto the road and possibly had an interaction with the wagon. We wondered if maybe the crazy preachers had preached at the wolves and Done Something to them. It was also possible that there was a space of time between the wagon passing and the wolves.</p><p></p><p>Elderron sent Oda out again, and watched through his eyes, and just saw the forest and the road. There were no carts and no activity on the road.</p><p></p><p>We made camp in a good spot Marxine picked for us.</p><p></p><p>It was definitely a good spot, because the night passed without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>3 Marroin 749 (Campaign day 4)</p><p></p><p>Aldalómiel foraged a bit for our breakfast confirmed that there’s plenty of food in the forest -- so the wolves were starving for other reasons.</p><p></p><p>Vinya: Maybe they went crazy and forgot how to hunt.</p><p></p><p>We headed out and before we’d travelled more than a couple of hours, we saw ahead of us a couple of carts tipped over onto their sides at a point where a side-track joined the main road. As we drew closer, we saw two dead humans in the road near the carts.</p><p></p><p>We tied the horses to a branch and got out of the wagon (those of us who were in it) to look around. Elderron sent Oda up a hundred feet or so to look around. Oda saw four lurching humanoid figures that looked like they might also be gibbering and one of those beachball-like starspawn grues.</p><p></p><p>Our first thought was that they were skeletons, or maybe zombies, all of us having heard tales of those rising when bodies weren’t properly burned -- but they didn’t look like that. They looked sort of dehydrated or starved, like the wolves.</p><p></p><p>Oh, dear.</p><p></p><p>Mia took a shot at the grue with her crossbow -- which hit and caused the grue to begin screaming. Elderron fired off a firebolt. Marxine, who’d waited for them to get close, then attacked when they were in range, and got a good solid hit.</p><p></p><p>The one Marxine attacked then leaned over and began whispering in her ear -- whatever it whispered she winced at the pain, but managed to shake it off. Vinya ran up to one that was off by itself and felt something come over her -- she was still able to make her attack, but didn’t feel herself at all.</p><p></p><p>Lamie put a bane on three of the whispering lurching things (they’re called “Mindghouls,” and they are, in fact, undead), which had them all affected. And then Mia cast a spell that caused the vegetation to rise up and wrap around most of the mindghouls -- restraining them in the vines. Some of them were even near the edge of the writhing vegetation, so we would be able to attack them without getting into it.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, the one mindghoul that wasn’t in the entangle spell attacked Lamie and did enough damage to cause her to drop the bane spell. But it didn’t whisper at her and hurt her in her mind.</p><p></p><p>Elderron dropped the grue, with its horrible distracting gibbering, with a magic missile setting off a had a really good sequence of attacks as a party -- Marxine chopped one right in half. Aldalómiel shot the one on Lamie for a lot of damage. Vinya dropped one with her first attack then did a flurry of blows and got a critical hit on another one.</p><p></p><p>After that, one of them managed to break out of the entangle spell and one of them tried to attack despite being restrained (to no effect). Aldalómiel and Vinya focused their attacks on the one that got out of the entangle area.</p><p></p><p>Marxine asked Mia to drop her spell so that she could get to the one in the middle of the entangled area. Mia did so, then took a shot at the one that had broken out on its own, and dropped it. Marxine got a huge hit on the one remaining one and then Elderron dropped it with a firebolt spell.</p><p></p><p>After they were all gone, we looked at them and determined that they were definitely undead, so this appeared to be a different evolution of the crazy -- the gibbering and whispering were the same, but the preachers and the cultists at Tashimeet were alive, and able to say almost coherent things (at times).</p><p></p><p>We also checked out the wounds on the dead people by the carts -- they had suffered from slashing wounds, like the mindghouls were doing with their claw-like hands. We didn’t see any marks on the bodies of the undead ones -- no obvious wounds that would have caused their deaths. But Marxine, still with the echoes of the headache she’d gotten when one whispered in her ear, said that if that one had been able to continue whispering at her long enough, it could have killed her.</p><p></p><p>That one whispered something that started with “It came to me…” before devolving into gibberish. The rest attacked with claws. The bodies of the mindghouls all look basically the same though -- so it seems like maybe the others could also have done that whispering thing.</p><p></p><p>The mindghouls were wearing tattered clothes -- some of them appeared to have been merchants, as we expected, and some of them were wearing the remains of leather armor and looked like they might have been bandits. It looked like there might have been a bandit ambush that went really weirdly and poorly for the bandits.</p><p></p><p>Having noticed the clothes, we looked at the corpses more closely and saw that all of them had the symbol that Vinya, Elderron, Lamie and Aldalómiel had seen on the corpses of the tentacle-armed guys at Tashimeet.</p><p></p><p>Aldalómiel looked at the tracks in the area -- it appeared that they’d been sort of milling around for a while, shuffling and lurching with no direction.</p><p></p><p>While we were doing that, Elderron took a few minutes to cast a detect magic spell to see if there was anything magical on or about the corpses. There was not.</p><p></p><p>After examining the bodies, we looked around the wagons. Both of them were tipped over onto their sides. There was nothing inside but operational stuff -- ropes, spare bits of harness. No trade goods or treasure, except for a couple of short swords and a dozen arrows, which Aldalómiel collected.</p><p></p><p>We could see hoofprints going from the main road down that side path we’d noticed. Mia looked for any evidence of the horses that had been hitched to the tipped over carts. There were no horse bodies and no sign of blood or remains near the harnesses. Just those hoofprints going up the road away from this battle scene, along with some human(oid) footprints.</p><p></p><p>Before we headed out to follow those tracks,, Elderron had Oda fly up and around, looking for danger, but the area looked clear. We also made a pile of the bodies and burned them.</p><p></p><p>We unhitched our horses from the cart, after pulling the cart off the side of the road and out of immediate view. Vinya helped Marxine, who’s good with animals, onto one of them, giving her a leg up without in any way impugning Marxine’s status as a total badass. Elderron rode the other horse.</p><p></p><p>We travelled along the side path, with Elderron and Marxine riding, for the rest of the day. Though we were alert and paranoid for any lurching, gibbering dangers, there were no problems the rest of the day.</p><p></p><p>We stopped in a clearing and made camp off to the side of the path. In the middle of the night, deep in the heart of second watch (Lamie, Aldalómiel and Elderron), Elderron spotted something out in the darkness. Or maybe he heard the gibbering. Three of the mindghouls were lurching toward us.</p><p></p><p>Elderron, shouting: Hey, guys!</p><p>Aldalómiel, who also spotted them: Incoming!</p><p></p><p>This woke up those of us who were sleeping around the fire.</p><p></p><p>Aldalómiel and Elderron took their shots at the one furthest from us, while Marxine waited for them to get close. Mia took a shot with her crossbow then moved to the horses so she could protect them.</p><p></p><p>Vinya woke up and moved into a position between Elderron and the mindghouls and went into a defensive, dodging stance, which was the most useful thing she wound out doing.</p><p></p><p>Aldalómiel got an impressive shot with her bow and Elderron cast magic missile, firing the darts at the one he’d already firebolted. When one finally got to Marxine she attacked with her axe and cut it in half with one mighty blow. Mia shot one right in the eye, getting a critical hit and dropping it. Vinya flailed around a bit, but kept them away from Elderron.</p><p></p><p>When the last one was dropped, we took a moment to look at the bodies -- one of them was dressed like the bandits we’d seen on the road. The other two looked like ordinary woodsmen.</p><p></p><p>Vinya and Lamie moved the bodies away off into the forest while Oda flew up and looked around to see if there were other obvious dangers. He didn’t see anything.</p><p></p><p>Those of us who had been resting went back to sleep and Aldalómiel, Elderron and Lamie went back to being on watch.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prabe, post: 8044909, member: 7016699"] Session 2: Hungry Wolves and Things That Gibber Dramatis Personae: Aldalómiel - Wood Elf Ranger Elama “Lamie” Galanodel- Wood Elf Cleric (Tempest) Vinya Anar - Wood Elf Monk Elderon - High Elf Wizard (Loremaster) Marxine Deepfoot - Dwarf Fighter Mia - Firbolg Druid GM: - Everyone Else 1 Marroin 749 (Campaign day 2) (that same morning) As Elama waited impatiently at the gates of the caravanserai, Aldalómiel went to see about buying herself some studded leather armor with the money we just got. Elderron disappeared for a while and returned with an owl on his shoulder and introduced it as Oda. We got the cart and horses that the cultists had arrived in (otherwise the caravanserai would just have to take care of them) and were heading out the door when a dwarf with a big axe ran out of the inn and placed herself in front of the horses, forcing us to stop. She then climbed into the wagon. Marxine: I’m coming with you. I can’t let this sit. She then took the reins from Elama, and sat down, pushing Elama to move aside. We stared at her for a moment until she explained that her name was Marxine Deepfoot and she had been working as a guard for the caravan of dwarves (the ones at the table together in the tavern the night before). Her people were attacked and she was not there to protect them. She wanted to make that right. We all agreed that she was welcome to join us. (We weren’t entirely sure how to get her not to come with us without making a huge big deal of it but she also seemed like she’d be a good ally.) The roads were soft but not too mucky, so the tracks remained clear. Because of the festival and the coming of winter there wasn’t a ton of traffic on the road, so Aldalómiel, walking along in front of the horses, was able to keep us on the right path. (We stayed on the road and didn’t take any side paths, so it wasn’t too hard.) The road was surrounded by woods and forest, varying in density but always wooded with a patchy mix of deciduous and coniferous trees. Though by the winter solstice, the deciduous trees were all bare. As we travelled we introduced ourselves and told Marxine about what we’d found in the journal in the wagon (about the machine) and the little we knew. Vinya also spent some time trying to make friends with Oda the owl, giving it tidbits of jerky. The air was cold and there was a breeze. The day passed with us traveling along at a gentle pace, talking and getting to know one another. We made camp shortly before sundown -- not because we were tired, but because the horses (as yet unnamed) needed a break. Marxine, familiar with the habits and practices of the caravaneers in a way the rest of us weren’t, found a good campsite, probably one that had been used before. It was well away from a crossroads, because apparently those are dangerous at night in the wilderness. We set watches, taking advantage of the four elves in the party and their need for only four hours of rest to keep three people on watch all night and get everyone a full night’s sleep. Or in theory, anyway -- because halfway through the first watch, Vinya, Elama and Marxine were surprised by two stealthy ogres who snuck up on our camp. Read that sentence again. Vinya and Marxine were relatively close to the wagon, Lamie had taken up a position in a tree so she could see from above. Vinya ran past the cart where the others were sleeping, whacking on the side of it with her quarterstaff and yelling “Get up” as she went by, then she went to attack the one that had snuck up on Elama. Elderron stuck his head out of the cart and fired off some magic missiles at the one that was attacking Marxine. Vinya got tent-pegged by the one she was fighting, but fortunately Lamie was there to heal her up and do some damage with a sacred flame. The one on Marxine tried more of a golf swing, but missed. We were further surprised when a large woman with soft, kind eyes ran out of the woods and moved behind the one on Marxine, getting into a position where both of them would have flanking. Aldalómiel came out of the wagon and pulled out a sling (a sling?) and took a shot at the one on Lamie and Vinya. Marxine, to the large woman: You better be on my side!! Then Marxine took a swing with her great axe and got a great hit against the ogre they were flanking. Vinya was dropped when one of the ogres got a great hit on her. Fortunately, the other one missed Marxine. Once again Lamie healed Vinya - getting her back on her feet. Marxine and the large woman (we later learned her name was Mia) did great work against their ogre, doing lots of damage as they hit it from both sides. Vinya was far less successful, repeatedly missing with her quarterstaff, but stomping on its bunions or kicking it in the shins with her unarmed attack. Vinya also got dropped again. And healed up and brought back by Elama, again. Finally at the very end, Marxine was dropped by a mighty hit just a second before Mia killed the one they’d been fighting. Aldalómiel, having pulled her bow out, killed the one that kept dropping Vinya. Before anyone could react, Mia shoved some berries down Marxine’s throat. Mia: They’re very good berries. Indeed they were, because almost immediately Marxine took a deep breath and groaned and woke up. That’s when the woman, very tall and with the most gentle eyes and pointed ears, introduced herself to us as “Mia, Firbolg.” Vinya: I’m Vinya Anar. This is… Mia: Oh. Oh, no. You are Vinya. I’ll learn another name tomorrow. Mia told us that the ogres had attacked her village - she was following them through the forest to make sure they didn’t turn back and attack it again. Mia stayed with us for the rest of the night, watching and resting. It passed without further incident. 2 Marroin 749 (Campaign day 3) The next morning, we set about breaking camp. Vinya wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but as we were getting ready to leave, Mia helped with the horses and there was no question that she would be traveling with us. Marxine was once again driving. Aldalómiel walked ahead of the horses and Mia walked next to them, talking to them and soothing them. The others were riding in the cart. After a few hours of traveling, Aldalómiel alerted us to four wolves ahead of us. Marxine pulled the cart to a halt. Mia, to the horses: They’re only wolves. Don’t worry. Then she tried to shoo the wolves away. Elderron noticed that the wolves looked sick -- scrawny and with rough fur. Aldalómiel shot one with her longbow, putting an arrow all the way through its chest and dropping it in one shot. The other stopped moving forward and held their ground, growling in a hostile manner. Elama used thaumaturgy to make a loud, booming thunderous sound a few feet in front of the three remaining wolves. Elama, shouting: Fly you fools!! The rest of the wolves ran off and away into the woods. Mia examined the body of the one Aldalómiel dropped -- they were badly underfed, which surprised her. Given their body condition, it seemed like they’d been hungry for a while, more than just a few days. Mia: It’s been a good year. There is food. Why are they starving? Elderron spent a bit of time to cast detect magic to see if there was any magical effect on it and found that there was definitely something unnatural about it. Vinya: Maybe the wolves got into the machine, whatever that is, and this is the wolf version of that sort of craziness. Elderron sent Oda flying up 100 feet to see if he could see anything standing out from the general forest canopy, but he could not. On high alert for more weird wolves, we continued following the wagon tracks and, as it turned out the wolf tracks, which had come from the same direction. A bit before the end of the day, we noticed that the wolf tracks diverged from the tracks of the cart. The wolves had walked from the forest onto the road and possibly had an interaction with the wagon. We wondered if maybe the crazy preachers had preached at the wolves and Done Something to them. It was also possible that there was a space of time between the wagon passing and the wolves. Elderron sent Oda out again, and watched through his eyes, and just saw the forest and the road. There were no carts and no activity on the road. We made camp in a good spot Marxine picked for us. It was definitely a good spot, because the night passed without incident. 3 Marroin 749 (Campaign day 4) Aldalómiel foraged a bit for our breakfast confirmed that there’s plenty of food in the forest -- so the wolves were starving for other reasons. Vinya: Maybe they went crazy and forgot how to hunt. We headed out and before we’d travelled more than a couple of hours, we saw ahead of us a couple of carts tipped over onto their sides at a point where a side-track joined the main road. As we drew closer, we saw two dead humans in the road near the carts. We tied the horses to a branch and got out of the wagon (those of us who were in it) to look around. Elderron sent Oda up a hundred feet or so to look around. Oda saw four lurching humanoid figures that looked like they might also be gibbering and one of those beachball-like starspawn grues. Our first thought was that they were skeletons, or maybe zombies, all of us having heard tales of those rising when bodies weren’t properly burned -- but they didn’t look like that. They looked sort of dehydrated or starved, like the wolves. Oh, dear. Mia took a shot at the grue with her crossbow -- which hit and caused the grue to begin screaming. Elderron fired off a firebolt. Marxine, who’d waited for them to get close, then attacked when they were in range, and got a good solid hit. The one Marxine attacked then leaned over and began whispering in her ear -- whatever it whispered she winced at the pain, but managed to shake it off. Vinya ran up to one that was off by itself and felt something come over her -- she was still able to make her attack, but didn’t feel herself at all. Lamie put a bane on three of the whispering lurching things (they’re called “Mindghouls,” and they are, in fact, undead), which had them all affected. And then Mia cast a spell that caused the vegetation to rise up and wrap around most of the mindghouls -- restraining them in the vines. Some of them were even near the edge of the writhing vegetation, so we would be able to attack them without getting into it. Unfortunately, the one mindghoul that wasn’t in the entangle spell attacked Lamie and did enough damage to cause her to drop the bane spell. But it didn’t whisper at her and hurt her in her mind. Elderron dropped the grue, with its horrible distracting gibbering, with a magic missile setting off a had a really good sequence of attacks as a party -- Marxine chopped one right in half. Aldalómiel shot the one on Lamie for a lot of damage. Vinya dropped one with her first attack then did a flurry of blows and got a critical hit on another one. After that, one of them managed to break out of the entangle spell and one of them tried to attack despite being restrained (to no effect). Aldalómiel and Vinya focused their attacks on the one that got out of the entangle area. Marxine asked Mia to drop her spell so that she could get to the one in the middle of the entangled area. Mia did so, then took a shot at the one that had broken out on its own, and dropped it. Marxine got a huge hit on the one remaining one and then Elderron dropped it with a firebolt spell. After they were all gone, we looked at them and determined that they were definitely undead, so this appeared to be a different evolution of the crazy -- the gibbering and whispering were the same, but the preachers and the cultists at Tashimeet were alive, and able to say almost coherent things (at times). We also checked out the wounds on the dead people by the carts -- they had suffered from slashing wounds, like the mindghouls were doing with their claw-like hands. We didn’t see any marks on the bodies of the undead ones -- no obvious wounds that would have caused their deaths. But Marxine, still with the echoes of the headache she’d gotten when one whispered in her ear, said that if that one had been able to continue whispering at her long enough, it could have killed her. That one whispered something that started with “It came to me…” before devolving into gibberish. The rest attacked with claws. The bodies of the mindghouls all look basically the same though -- so it seems like maybe the others could also have done that whispering thing. The mindghouls were wearing tattered clothes -- some of them appeared to have been merchants, as we expected, and some of them were wearing the remains of leather armor and looked like they might have been bandits. It looked like there might have been a bandit ambush that went really weirdly and poorly for the bandits. Having noticed the clothes, we looked at the corpses more closely and saw that all of them had the symbol that Vinya, Elderron, Lamie and Aldalómiel had seen on the corpses of the tentacle-armed guys at Tashimeet. Aldalómiel looked at the tracks in the area -- it appeared that they’d been sort of milling around for a while, shuffling and lurching with no direction. While we were doing that, Elderron took a few minutes to cast a detect magic spell to see if there was anything magical on or about the corpses. There was not. After examining the bodies, we looked around the wagons. Both of them were tipped over onto their sides. There was nothing inside but operational stuff -- ropes, spare bits of harness. No trade goods or treasure, except for a couple of short swords and a dozen arrows, which Aldalómiel collected. We could see hoofprints going from the main road down that side path we’d noticed. Mia looked for any evidence of the horses that had been hitched to the tipped over carts. There were no horse bodies and no sign of blood or remains near the harnesses. Just those hoofprints going up the road away from this battle scene, along with some human(oid) footprints. Before we headed out to follow those tracks,, Elderron had Oda fly up and around, looking for danger, but the area looked clear. We also made a pile of the bodies and burned them. We unhitched our horses from the cart, after pulling the cart off the side of the road and out of immediate view. Vinya helped Marxine, who’s good with animals, onto one of them, giving her a leg up without in any way impugning Marxine’s status as a total badass. Elderron rode the other horse. We travelled along the side path, with Elderron and Marxine riding, for the rest of the day. Though we were alert and paranoid for any lurching, gibbering dangers, there were no problems the rest of the day. We stopped in a clearing and made camp off to the side of the path. In the middle of the night, deep in the heart of second watch (Lamie, Aldalómiel and Elderron), Elderron spotted something out in the darkness. Or maybe he heard the gibbering. Three of the mindghouls were lurching toward us. Elderron, shouting: Hey, guys! Aldalómiel, who also spotted them: Incoming! This woke up those of us who were sleeping around the fire. Aldalómiel and Elderron took their shots at the one furthest from us, while Marxine waited for them to get close. Mia took a shot with her crossbow then moved to the horses so she could protect them. Vinya woke up and moved into a position between Elderron and the mindghouls and went into a defensive, dodging stance, which was the most useful thing she wound out doing. Aldalómiel got an impressive shot with her bow and Elderron cast magic missile, firing the darts at the one he’d already firebolted. When one finally got to Marxine she attacked with her axe and cut it in half with one mighty blow. Mia shot one right in the eye, getting a critical hit and dropping it. Vinya flailed around a bit, but kept them away from Elderron. When the last one was dropped, we took a moment to look at the bodies -- one of them was dressed like the bandits we’d seen on the road. The other two looked like ordinary woodsmen. Vinya and Lamie moved the bodies away off into the forest while Oda flew up and looked around to see if there were other obvious dangers. He didn’t see anything. Those of us who had been resting went back to sleep and Aldalómiel, Elderron and Lamie went back to being on watch. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Erkonin (Campaign #2) [Session 45: Rajalmin's Agent]
Top