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 coming! 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
Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
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="Richards" data-source="post: 8674523" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 2: GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 1</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 22 June 2022</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Eight days into the overland trek that Father Barbados had estimated was likely to be a 19-day journey, the four fledgling heroes had settled into the roles they had been assigned as part of the wagon train. Harlan was put in charge of security of the church's wagons - the others in the caravan were in theory responsible for the security of their own mounts and vehicles, but many of them assumed if there was going to be any trouble the heroes guarding the wagons of the clerics of Saint Cuthbert would take care of it - which meant he set up the rotating guard shifts for the night hours. He was also in full armor all day, ready to respond to any attacks by bandits or wandering monsters deciding to try their hand at grabbing up a traveler or two as a snack. Chaevaris was the group's scout, generally traveling up to a mile ahead of the rest of the caravan, ever alert for danger and generally capable of spotting it and dealing with it alone or sprinting back to the caravan with a warning of what to expect ahead. Alistair had been charged with keeping the wagons in general good repair, which mostly meant applying thick, sticky grease to the axles on a recurring basis - a chore he generally subcontracted to "Ogilvy," what he believed to be the ghostly spirit of a servant the Pastlethwaites had employed when Alistair and his brother were young but was in fact an <em>unseen servant</em> spell the nascent sorcerer had been casting unknowingly. Ageratum had been assigned the role of cook's assistant, which was fairly important since the primary cook - Brother Scrimshaw, whose knowledge about cooking could only be kindly referred to as "marginal" at best - left much to be desired. (Although Alistair wasn't particularly put out by the poor quality of the rations, as he unconsciously cast a <em>prestidigitation</em> spell before each meal and greatly enhanced the quality of the taste of Brother Scrimshaw's grub.)</p><p></p><p>Besides the two clerics who had organized the caravan and the Thorpes, the brother and sister who had hired the heroes to fetch their grandfather's family crest before they had even left Greyhawk City on their journey west, there was a small group of dwarves, another group of elves, and a few humans, all with their own beasts of burden carrying their owners' goods in wagons or carts or on heavy packs upon their backs. Some caravan members rode in the carts or wagons pulled by the horses and mules, while others walked; Alistair was glad he had made the smart purchase of a traveler's outfit - including comfortable boots - for the lengthy journey to Ghourmand Vale, and while he rode in one of the wagons whenever feasible, he had put in quite a lot of miles on foot these past eight days. But he also kept a wary eye out, for despite never actually having seen anyone spying upon him, he had felt off and on a definite sense of being watched.</p><p></p><p>Four days of travel had led the group to the city of Dyvers, while another four after that had brought them close to the Gnarley Forest; they camped for the night with the vast spread of trees just barely visible in the far distance. Brother Scrimshaw and Ageratum readied the evening meal as the others set up the tents and gathered up firewood to keep the cook-fires going, while Harlan ensured everything was locked down and he knew where each cart and wagon was located, and where every member of the caravan would be sleeping. As Chaevaris's elven heritage allowed for a minimal need for rest, the archer usually took a four-hour stretch of the night's guard shift, usually with Ageratum and Harlan each taking a two-hour shift. The clerics were left to sleep, so they'd have plenty of rest which would allow them to replenish any spells they might have cast during the previous day - other than a few <em>potions</em> and <em>scrolls of cure light wounds</em> the heroes had purchased with the money they'd earned from the Thorpes for retrieving the Von Weisswurst family crest, the Cuthbertians were the caravan's sole source of healing - and the general consensus between the other three was it was probably best to let Alistair get a full night's sleep, since he was apparently some sort of wizard even if he didn't seem to realize it himself. (Chaevaris was particularly insistent the young nobleman had somehow caused a skull to levitate and drop upon the animated skeletons they'd been fighting in the Von Weisswurst tomb.) Plus, without actually saying anything to Alistair, everyone probably slept better knowing their safety was <em>not</em> in the hands of the inexperienced rich-boy fop, who wasn't likely to know how to react if some sort of danger reared its ugly head.</p><p></p><p>But fortunately for those on guard duty, the eighth night passed uneventfully - until the screams woke the rest of the caravan up just as the sun was rising the following morning. The elven family had awakened from their nightly reverie to discover one of their children missing. As everyone was awakened by the elven mother's panicked screams, there was a commotion over at one of the wagons led by a family of human commoners - they, too, had a daughter missing.</p><p></p><p>A quick search throughout the camp convinced everyone the two missing girls were not hiding anywhere - and, in fact, unearthed a set of tracks near the wagons where the girls had been sleeping. One of the dwarven travelers nodded knowingly and said, "Aye, these be th' tracks o' kobolds, they be - mine vermin, th' lot o' them!" Father Barbados quickly lined out a plan: the caravan would stay exactly where it was for the moment, while the four heroes followed the tracks to fetch the girls back from the kobolds and return them safely to their families. (The unspoken alternative, in the case the girls had already been slain and eaten by the time the heroes caught up with them, was to avenge their deaths by slaying the kobolds responsible and returning the girls' bodies to their families for burial.) In the meantime, one of the elves would ride at top speed to the nearest town to fetch a group of men capable of providing security for the stopped wagon train until the heroes' return with the girls.</p><p></p><p>Harlan and Chaevaris wasted no time putting their armor back on, while Ageratum and Alistair gathered up their gear. Alistair opted to leave behind his carpetbag containing all of his worldly possessions; while the little halfling had helped him, with a few strands of thin rope, fashion a pair of straps that would allow him to wear it upon his back in the same manner as a backpack, there wasn't really anything in it the young nobleman felt he would need with him on a rescue mission - it mostly contained the nobleman's outfit he'd been wearing when his father kicked him out of the family (including those fashionable leather shoes with the buckles that had proven to be ill-suited to a life of adventuring), as well as a few extra items like his favorite book of elven poetry. But he had his waterskin and his rapier sheathed in its scabbard at his belt, as well as the <em>potion of cure light wounds</em> he'd bought in Greyhawk City once it became quite apparent to the young nobleman just how dangerous the life of an adventurer could be. He was all set - and, oddly, he was feeling an odd sort of mental "tug" toward the Gnarley Forest to the north. Perhaps Ogilvy was trying to tell him which way the kobolds had taken the girls?</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris led the way, as a keen pair of elven eyes was particularly well-suited to following kobold tracks through the wilderness, especially when said elven eyes belonged to an archer whose entire family had been raised to live off the land. And the trail did indeed lead to the north, towards the Gnarley Forest. It wasn't particularly difficult to determine which way the kobolds had taken the girls, either, as Chaevaris constantly pointed out drag-marks and reptilian footprints no bigger than Ageratum's. "They weren't even trying to avoid leaving any traces," the wood elf said with scorn.</p><p></p><p>However, the trail kept on going. The sun reached its zenith overhead and the heroes were still following the kobold tracks, Alistair for one wondering how much farther the blasted kobolds could have gone but not wanting to voice his concerns (knowing full well he'd merely be looked down upon as a whining aristocrat unable to keep up with the more fit members of the lower classes, and he wasn't about to give them the opportunity for such condescension). They ate trail rations on the move, no one wanting to take the time out to stop long enough for a quick meal for fear they'd finally stumble upon the girls a mere minutes too late and have to explain to their parents they probably <em>could</em> have saved them if only they hadn't taken that lunch break. But the afternoon grew long and the sun was over by the trees of the forest and still they were following the kobolds' trail. Alistair had all but given up hope towards dusk, realizing it would soon be too dark for any possible hope of being able to see the kobolds' tracks, when he once again received a feeling as if he were being mentally contacted by the spirit of his long-dead former family servant, this time accompanied by a sense of desperate urgency. "This way, fellows, quickly!" he called, racing to a downed tree trunk at the top of a depression. On the other side of the trunk, at the bottom of the depression, stood two openings into the side of a small hill just beyond: a cave network of some type. He scrambled over the downed trunk, the others following behind him, and peered fruitlessly into the darkness beyond.</p><p></p><p>"We'll need light sources," replied Chaevaris, striking a light with flint and steel and starting a bullseye lantern glowing with flame. Then, holding it towards the larger of the two cave openings, the archer squinted to see into the cave. Ageratum pulled a sunrod from her pack while Chaevaris suggested someone take the lantern, saying, "I'd do better with both hands free, so I can use my bow."</p><p></p><p>Say no more," replied Alistair. "Ogilvy, if you please!" In an instant, the lantern was gently tugged from the elf's hand and floated in midair, being held aloft by the <em>unseen servant</em> spell Alistair had just cast without realizing it. Alistair unsheathed his rapier and directed his servant-spirit into the cave, following just behind with Chaevaris at his side, an arrow nocked and ready to fire. Harlan and Ageratum followed directly behind.</p><p></p><p>There was a short corridor heading west before it made a turn to the north, and from the western end stepped two kobolds. Chaevaris's readied arrow went streaking down the narrow passageway, making a tinking sound as it struck the tip of an ivory horn and went veering off to the side. The kobold threw the shortspear he'd been wielding and it too missed its target, going well above Chaevaris's head. But then the other one followed suit and its small spear hit the archer in the upper arm, the tip stuck in the elf's leather armor. With a snarl of irritation, Chaevaris pulled it free and tossed it aside, not liking having been the first of the group to be bloodied by their foes.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum snaked her way past the two companions before her and tossed one of her daggers at the first kobold, noting idly that neither reptile seemed to have any backup weapons; apparently they'd be relying upon teeth and claws until they could retrieve their thrown spears. But then she heard a noise from the north and spun in that direction. She couldn't see anything - the bullseye lantern was facing the two kobolds they were dealing with now - but it sounded like there were more kobolds approaching from some distance away to the north.</p><p></p><p>Harlan moved up, dodging the swipe of a set of claws from the foremost kobold as he brought his sword down upon it. But the little reptile was nimble and the half-elf's blade missed its target. However, it couldn't dodge from everyone at the same time and the tip of Alistair's rapier pierced the little reptile's breast, causing it to yip in pain and surprise. Chaevaris nocked another arrow and let fly, this one also missing its target, the kobold not currently otherwise engaged in melee. But then as one they hurled themselves at these intruders to their den, one going for Alistair and the other for Harlan in a flurry of teeth and claws. They were certainly putting on a great show of fearlessness, but neither managed to connect with their given targets.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum threw her only remaining dagger at one of the kobolds, who saw it coming in time and managed to dodge it - but was then cut down by a swing of Harlan's longsword. Just that quickly, the kobolds had taken their first casualty. Ageratum scurried forward to gather up the closest of her thrown daggers as the remaining kobold dashed about, avoiding weapon-strikes from Alistair and Harlan and another arrow from Chaevaris. However, it in turn was unable to hit any of its targets with its snapping teeth. Ageratum finally slew it with another thrown dagger, knocking it over into at least unconsciousness; not wanting to take the chance of it surviving, the halfling slit its throat with her blade before wiping the blood off on its scaly hide.</p><p></p><p>At Alistair's direction, "Ogilvy" spun the bullseye lantern to the north and the group could see a quartet of kobolds approaching, just at the edge of the area of illumination. "They are evil," Harlan announced, seeing he had plenty of time to analyze their auras before they got within spear-chucking distance. He stepped forward into a defensive position, his sword held before him, ready to strike. Alistair copied the paladin's move with his own rapier, as Ogilvy moved off to the side, out of the way. When the kobolds were still a good 80 feet away, Chaevaris released an arrow that struck one of the four kobolds right through the eye, killing him instantly. That gave the elven archer a distinct sense of accomplishment, especially considering all of the arrows that had missed thus far since entering the cave.</p><p></p><p>The other three raced forward, yipping and yapping with spears held before them, charging the intruders. One headed straight for Harlan - which was a mistake, for the paladin stepped to the side of the spear-tip and stabbed forward with his longsword, skewering the kobold straight through the heart and slaying him instantly. Another, apparently blinded by the bright light, mistook the hovering lantern as being held by something other than an <em>unseen servant</em> spell and viciously attacked it, yipping in surprise when his spear met no resistance by a physical body. Ageratum fetched her other thrown dagger and moved quietly up to the rest of the group, who were at this point eagerly fighting it out with the little reptiles. But despite a whole lot of flailing weapons (on both sides), very little actual hitting the enemy seemed to be going on. One kobold finally managed to poke Harlan in the leg with the tip of his spear; Ageratum was close enough to stab the little beast for the effrontery. Chaevaris brought down another kobold with an arrow strike, having practiced shooting at much shorter distances than those normally used in hunting prey. The last remaining kobold managed to get in another hit on Harlan before the half-elf slew it with his longsword, practically taking the thing's head off with a lateral swing of his blade.</p><p></p><p>The immediate fight over, the group took a moment to look around. There were bones lying scattered on the floor, the remains of past meals, but none of them looked to be fresh enough (they hoped) to belong to the girls from the caravan. There were two exits from this larger cavern, one to the west and one to the north; after a moment of concentration, Harlan deemed there was a greater concentration of evil to the north than there was to the west, although there were definitely sources of evil in both directions. Judging it prudent to take out the stronger enemies while the heroes were still relatively uninjured - Harlan and Chaevaris were the only ones hit thus far, and neither deemed it necessary to apply any magical healing, opting instead to merely bind their wounds as needed with clean linens from their backpacks - the paladin led the group north, accompanied by the floating bullseye lantern.</p><p></p><p>In the next room - a shrine of some sort, although it was apparent the symbols of a newer god had been inscribed over the older ones carved into the stone walls of the cavern - came a group of three strange creatures, entering from a passageway leading even further north. These creatures walked upright and were the size of a man, but had sloping, overly-large skulls ending in a distinct muzzle with protruding fangs. The creatures wore naught but a simple loincloth of ragged leather, revealing graying skin covered in knobby warts and protrusions. They spotted the heroes, raised their wooden clubs, and sprang forward into combat with a shared roar of impending triumph.</p><p></p><p>Alistair stepped forward fully into the temple but then dodged off to one side, raising his rapier in a defensive stance. Chaevaris brought down the first of these norkers with an arrow to the throat, killing it as it fell to the ground and choked on its own blood. Ageratum stepped in front of the archer, both daggers raised for action as soon as any of these hulking brutes got close enough to strike. Harlan followed suit, providing the remaining two norkers a row of three potential foes to fight, behind which an elven archer readied another arrow.</p><p></p><p>One norker opted to charge at Harlan, perhaps incensed by the holy symbol of Pelor the paladin proudly wore upon the tabard covering his armor. Harlan tried to dodge under the norker's club but wasn't quite fast enough, and then failed to connect when he swung his sword at the brute. The other norker chose to go after Ageratum, perhaps viewing the halfling as the weakest of the group and thus the easiest to kill, but while he managed to hit the nimble rogue she proved him wrong by rolling with the blow, staying on her feet and easily surviving the attack.</p><p></p><p>Alistair stepped forward and stabbed at the norker who had just attacked Ageratum - incensed at the mind-set of a brute who would deliberately attack a woman, no matter her stature - with his rapier, missing entirely. Chaevaris hit him with an arrow, but the norker merely roared in defiance and kept fighting on, ignoring the shaft sticking out of his midsection. But then Ageratum scurried up, both daggers slashing out in opposite directions as she sliced the brute's belly open, causing it to topple forward and fall to the stone floor, dead.</p><p></p><p>Harlan and the remaining norker danced around each other, swinging their weapons repeatedly but failing to hit. Alistair tried stabbing the norker and Chaevaris tried shooting it, neither with any luck. But then Ageratum snuck in and stabbed a dagger deep into its side, killing it while it had been concentrating on its larger foes. <em>That'll teach it!</em> the halfling thought, before realizing it was no longer in any position to learn anything ever again. She contemptuously wiped her bloody blades clean on his snout. "Now what?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>Harlan took a moment to unroll one of his two <em>scrolls of cure light wounds</em>, patching up the worst of his battle damage before leading the group to the passageway headed further north. "I say!" Alistair said upon entering what had apparently been at one point a kobold's throne room - <em>Perhaps before the tribe of reptiles had been taken over by those larger brutes,</em> the nobleman theorized. But he had Ogilvy cast the light from Chaevaris's bullseye lantern all around the room, while the archer used the inherent senses all elves gained at birth to see if there were any secret passageways out of what otherwise seemed like a dead-end room.</p><p></p><p>"There - in the corner!" called out the wood elf, pointing to the remains of a hanging curtain that had no doubt at one point been a vibrant green. Pulling it aside, Alistair saw a narrow passageway leading down into darkness. "This way with the lantern, if you please, Ogilvy!" the nobleman called out, following his <em>unseen servant</em> down a winding passageway that had to have led them at least 20 feet lower than the caverns above. About halfway down, the young aristocrat picked up the sound of a female voice singing - and in Elven, at that!</p><p></p><p>Arriving at the bottom of the winding passageway, Alistair saw two girls, one an elf and the other a human, both looking to be about seven summers old (although the nobleman realized the elf was probably several decades older than she appeared, given the elven slow rate of growth), sitting at the edge of stone ringing a fountain of water springing up from the ground. The spring water was slightly luminous, Alistair noted, as the human girl washed her face in the waters from the pool and the elf girl sang her song. "I say!" Alistair called as they shot a worried glance in his direction once they noticed the light from the bullseye lantern being directed their way. Then he switched to the Elven tongue, a language in which he had been tutored for many years. "Don't worry; we're from the caravan - we were sent to bring you back to your parents!"</p><p></p><p>"You talk funny," pointed out the elven girl in much more fluent Elven than Alistair had mastered.</p><p></p><p>"How did you get down here?" Chaevaris asked the elven girl in her own language, uncertain whether she spoke the Common tongue.</p><p></p><p>"Those little monsters gave us to the bigger monsters, who made us stay in the room upstairs," the elf child replied. "When they stepped out of the room, we found the tunnel down here. I don't even know if they know this place is down here! But the water is very refreshing, and they hadn't given us anything to eat or drink, so we helped ourselves." Alistair took the opportunity to refill his waterskin from the fountain, noting he'd nearly emptied it on the trip to the kobold lair. Harlan and Chaevaris each drank directly from the fountain, finding it had a magical effect, healing up the worst of their remaining wounds. Quick experimentation determined the fountain's effects affected each person but once, although it was possible it might heal them further again after a suitable amount of time had passed.</p><p></p><p>"Are you taking us back to the wagons now?" asked the human girl. "I want my Mum."</p><p></p><p>"Well, it's a long way away and it's getting dark outside," replied Harlan. "And we've...taken care of a lot of monsters upstairs, but we're not sure if there are any more up there or not. So I think the best thing for now is for you two to stay here where it's safe, while we go back up and make sure there are no other monsters to bother us. Then we can all go home tomorrow. How does that sound?"</p><p></p><p>"No!" cried the little girl. "I want to come with you!" Ageratum volunteered to stay with the girls in case they were afraid the heroes would leave without them, but they insisted - quite stridently - on coming with. Eventually, Ageratum agreed on behalf of the whole group, telling them they could come with them if they stayed well back from any monsters and stayed quiet. They promised, and Ageratum in turn promised the others she'd personally look after them. The girls seemed to take a shine to the little halfling at once; she was, after all, not only the closest thing they had to a mother figure at the moment but was also about their own size. "I'll keep them safe, too," Chaevaris promised.</p><p></p><p>"All right then," agreed Harlan. "Let's go." He led the six of them back up to the kobold throne room, well aware there had been that other source of evil emanations coming from the west, plus a passageway further east of where they had first entered the kobold warren.</p><p></p><p>Retracing their steps through the kobold throne room and the converted worship shrine (with Ageratum telling the girls to cover their eyes so they didn't see the dead bodies of the scary monsters and making sure they complied), Harlan led the group to the kobold hall with all of the scattered bones. A side passageway to the west led a short distance and then veered back north in a dog-leg before coming to a dead end. However, in that dead end stood two more kobolds with shortspears, as well as a few crawling, lizardlike infants and a bunch of leathery eggs yet to hatch the pair seemed to be guarding. The kobolds were the smallest the group had encountered thus far, possibly being much younger in age. Still... "Evil?" asked Alistair, turning to the half-paladin for confirmation.</p><p></p><p>"Evil," replied Harlan. That was all Alistair needed to hear; he ran forward and poked one of the kobold babysitters in the torso with the point of his rapier. Chaevaris hit the other one with an arrow, as it struck Alistair with its spear; shortly after, Harlan crossed the room and cut it down with his longsword. Ageratum hung back with the two girls while Chaevaris took out the remaining kobold with another well-placed arrow, and then the three took to wiping out the others, Chaevaris going so far as burning the unhatched eggs after dousing them with a flask of oil.</p><p></p><p>"Back to the front entrance," Harlan ordered, leaving the carnage behind and leading the group to the twin openings back outside. But then, rather than heading outside, he took the other passageway leading to the eastern side of the warren, which after a quick exploration led to a sort of assembly hall filled with weapon racks and barrels, all empty. Further north there was a stable of sorts smelling of fish and musk. There were a few sets of tack and harness, which along with the musky smell led Chaevaris to hazard a guess the kobolds had a few dire weasels they rode into battle. "They're probably out on a raid," the archer guessed, not realizing at the time just exactly how accurate that statement was.</p><p></p><p>By then, it was full night outside and Harlan confirmed his initial decision it was safer to spend the night here and get a good, fresh start back to the caravan in the morning. Chaevaris gave the entire warren a good look around and found no other secret passageways, other than discovering a set of camouflaged doors in the weasel stables leading outside. At some point during the archer's searching the duration of Alistair's <em>unseen servant</em> spell expired, sending the bullseye lantern crashing to the stone floor of the cave. "Ah, good!" exclaimed Alistair. "Ogilvy must have sensed there was no longer any danger and departed. Poor thing; it must be tiring for the old boy to manifest as long as he does."</p><p></p><p>Harlan, however, was not willing to put any stock in an unseen spirit's assessment of the overall safety of the situation and decided Ageratum and the girls would spend the night down in the relative safety of the fountain chamber, while the other three took turns on guard duty upstairs in case any of the kobolds or norkers returned during the night. But the night passed uneventfully - even though Alistair fervent wished he'd brought his bedroll along, although just how he'd have been expected to realize the kobolds would have taken the kidnapped girls so far away was beyond him - and the next morning, Chaevaris woke the two men and the three of them went down to the fountain chamber. There, they each drank their fill (and sure enough, the healing properties of the water apparently kicked in anew each day), then started their day-long trek back to the caravan. Ageratum took the time to snatch up all of the kobolds' shortspears that still seemed to be in halfway decent condition, figuring they were well-sized for her and would make good walking sticks for the girls on the way back, if nothing else.</p><p></p><p>As expected, the journey took all day, but Chaevaris kept them all going in the right direction, and was even able to direct them to several berry bushes after first deeming them safe to eat. They finally caught site of the caravan an hour or so past twilight - they hadn't been able to travel as quickly with the girls as they had when tracking the kobolds, and needed to take several breaks throughout the long trek - and walked into camp, to the surprise and joy of the caravan members, especially the families of the two girls. But there were several strange faces among the group, as Brother Scrimshaw explained to the heroes. "These are men from Celene," he said. "One of the elves rode out to gain their assistance, and it was a good thing they did - we were attacked while you were gone."</p><p></p><p>"Attacked?" asked Ageratum. "By who?" Alistair bit back the temptation to correct her by saying, "By whom?" - having learned his new companions did not seem to care as much about such things as did the young nobleman.</p><p></p><p>"A band of kobolds, two of them riding giant weasels," the cleric of Saint Cuthbert answered. "We fought them off, but there are plenty of wounded, and it was all Father Barbados and I could do to provide enough healing. He was injured fairly badly in the attack, too, I might add. He's sleeping in the wagon."</p><p></p><p>"Were there any norkers among the raiders?" asked Chaevaris.</p><p></p><p>"Norkers? Nope, nothing like that - just the kobolds." He took them over to where the bodies of the slain raiders - and their two mounts - had been dumped, off a bit away from the rest of the wagons. Harlan squatted down and lifted a crude symbol worn about the neck of a slain kobold, hanging by a piece of leather thong. "Hmm," he grunted, lifting it up to the others. "Anybody recognize it?"</p><p></p><p>Ageratum did. "That's the symbol that was scratched into the walls of the kobold shrine, over the older ones."</p><p></p><p>Harlan nodded. "It's the unholy symbol of Iuz," he said, dropping the wooden carving and letting it fall back on the dead kobold's chest.</p><p></p><p>By then, the elven girl had dragged her parents over to the heroes. "We give thanks for the rescue of our daughter," the elven man proclaimed in his own language. "Please, allow us to repay you with these tokens of our appreciation." Their honor demanded as much and they would not be swayed, so Harlan was given a masterwork elven longsword; Chaevaris was gifted a suit of elven chainmail; Ageratum was presented a masterwork short sword built for someone of her size, and Alistair was granted a masterwork silver dagger. "I will treasure this always," the nobleman replied in the Elven tongue, and if the girl's father winced at the human's horrific accent he had the good grace to at least appreciate the attempt.</p><p></p><p>Seeing this, the human girl's parents approached the heroes as well. "We're mere peasants, without much in the way of money or goods to properly thank you for bringing our daughter back to us, safe and sound," the mother said while hugging the seven-year-old tight to her side, "but when we get to Ghourmand Vale, you're all welcome to stay with us if you've nowhere else to go. We don't have much, like I say, but we do have a small home there waiting for us." Harlan thanked them for their generosity and excused himself to see about setting up security for the wagon train's members. He wasn't at all surprised to see the other wagons were taking the idea of setting up guards a bit more seriously now, instead of leaving it all to the fledgling heroes. The warriors from Celene said their farewells; they'd been more than happy to help out but it seemed the wagon train had their own adventurers back and they sought to get back to their own families. Brother Scrimshaw blessed them and sent them on their way with a small bag of coins for their assistance.</p><p></p><p>Harlan finished his guard shift late that night and was waking up Chaevaris when they both heard a noise. The archer, scrambling into armor and grabbing up bow and quiver while the paladin went to check it out, squinted out into the darkness - for the clouds were heavy and most of the watch-fires had burned low. They could make out a few small figures, shambling around as if drunk, making an erratic bee-line for the Thorpe wagon. As the two heroes approached the figures, Harlan saw they were two kobold zombies on foot and one riding upon the back of a dire weasel, the furry creature also apparently having joined the ranks of the undead.</p><p></p><p>Harlan cried out an alarm as he rushed toward the closest zombie, channeling Pelor's power through his new elven longsword as he brought it down in a smiting attack, but the staggering zombie managed to sway away from the blade at the last moment, whether intentionally or not being somewhat difficult to determine. Ageratum crawled out from under the wagon where she'd been sleeping, darting forward with her two daggers in hand, slashing at the nearest zombie but getting her foot caught up in her bedroll, which threw off her attack. Alistair attacked the undead dire weasel with his silver dagger, idly wondering if silver weapons had any special properties against undead - he dimly recalled, from the "Elfy Danger Silverleaf" stories he'd read as a young lad, that they were the weapons of choice against dreaded werebeasts. The elven blade hit true, sinking up to the hilt into the weasel's stinking flesh, and Alistair pulled it back out again, sad to see the wound had not caused the creature to bleed, but then belatedly realizing a zombie wasn't likely to bleed in any case - Funke Von Weisswurst certainly hadn't, and that was the young nobleman's only other experience with zombies.</p><p></p><p>The zombie Harlan had attacked swung a feeble arm towards the paladin's direction - quite easily avoided - while the one Ageratum had targeted shambled over her way. The dire weasel snapped its nasty rodent teeth at Alistair, catching him on the arm, while the rider on its back swayed to and fro, apparently in undeath unable to regain the riding expertise it had mastered in life. Harlan responded by swinging his new blade down at the kobold zombie who had attacked him, nearly severing one arm from the shoulder; it dangled from a hunk of muscle connecting it to the severed bone. The zombie suddenly sprouted an arrow shaft in its sternum, courtesy of Chaevaris's keen eye and well-strung bow. Then Ageratum made the killing blow with her daggers, sending the corpse to the ground where it once again lay motionlessly in the dirt.</p><p></p><p>Alistair stabbed ineffectually at the undead dire weasel and then fell back, grabbing his bleeding arm and hoping a bite from a zombie wasn't automatically horrifically disease-ridden. The weasel turned to Harlan, its next-closest target, and snapped its teeth at the half-elf, who easily dodged the slow-moving attack. But then the other kobold zombie headed his way as well. Harlan swung at the newcomer, slicing through the muscles of its chest, causing it stagger backwards a step before moving forward once again. Chaevaris launched another arrow at the kobold zombie, hitting it square on - not that the undead thing even seemed to notice.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum stabbed at the weasel and then stepped back a safe distance, having noted their speed was one distinct advantage the heroes had over these slow-moving, shambling corpses. But Alistair was apparently no longer willing to get within biting distance of the zombies, calling out, "Ogilvy, if you please!" At once, a rock rose up from the ground and maneuvered its way through the air before dropping down upon the kobold zombie with the arrow shaft sticking out of its chest; the rock hit the arrow and was deflected away and Ogilvy was entreated by Alistair to pick it back up and try again.</p><p></p><p>Harlan slashed at the zombie with his masterwork longsword, the blade ripping through undead scales and the muscle beneath. Then he too stepped back, allowing the zombie to come to him - better it waste its time in staggered movement rather than attacking with teeth or claws. Chaevaris, irritated that arrows weren't doing a whole lot against these lumbering undead, charged the standing zombie with a dagger, missing the jerking creature entirely. Ageratum used both of her daggers against the dire weasel zombie, dropping it instantly to the ground and causing its undead kobold rider to stumble from its back and try to attack the heroes while standing - however wobbly - on its own two feet. As Ogilvy dropped a rock and once again missed with it, the zombie struck a slow-moving limb in Chaevaris's direction. Harlan stabbed it and stepped back; Chaevaris stabbed at it, missed, and stepped back. Ageratum got in a hit and stepped back, and now it was almost a kind of game, seeing how long the heroes could "steer" the zombies one way or another, the undead not ever quite catching up to their living prey. Chaevaris, flanking a zombie with Harlan, managed to cut it down with a dagger-strike to the head - that was more like it!</p><p></p><p>There was now only one kobold zombie remaining. Ogilvy dropped a rock on its noggin as Ageratum stabbed it in the gut and stepped back. The zombie followed after the halfling, allowing Harlan, Chaevaris, and Ageratum to each get in an attack, neither of which managed to deal the undead reptile any harm at all. The zombie got in a lucky strike at Chaevaris, slashing its ragged claws along the elf's arm, but then Harlan brought it down with a final slash of his blade. "Is everyone okay?" he asked the others, getting responses indicating while there were wounds to be tended to, nobody was in any desperate need of healing.</p><p></p><p>"What caused them to animate?" Ageratum asked.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, quite, and why just those and not all of them?" Alistair added. There didn't seem to be any major differences between the three kobolds and the others who had failed to return to an unholy semblance of life, nor did the other slain dire weasel have any original wounds any worse than the one who had reanimated for whatever unknown reason. It was Chaevaris who came to the realization the four corpses that had animated had all been the physically closest to the Thorpes' wagon - and, the archer recalled, they had originally been heading directly for the Thorpes' wagon before being engaged in battle by the four-person wagon security team.</p><p></p><p>Harlan activated his paladin senses and scoured the slain zombies' bodies for any signs of evil; now that they were "dead" once again they had no such emanations of evil seeping from them - they were no more evil than the ground below them. However, turning about and facing the wagon containing the Thorpe siblings, the paladin got a distinct sense of evil coming from inside the wagon.</p><p></p><p>"That family crest!" Chaevaris gasped. "I'll bet that thing's evil - and that's why those skeletons were trying to get to it! It somehow animates and calls out to the undead it creates!"</p><p></p><p>Harlan pounded on the Thorpes' enclosed wagon and rose them from their slumber. "We'd like to see that family crest," Harlan told Carlton Thorpe, explaining their suspicions.</p><p></p><p>"Ridiculous!" scoffed Carlton - as the paladin realized he was getting a slight reading of evil coming from both Carlton and his sister Maya. But he brought forth the crest the heroes had unearthed from his grandfather's tomb and Harlan examined it closely. To his surprise, he picked up no evil emanations from it.</p><p></p><p>"Is there a way it might be magically shielded?" asked Alistair, subconsciously casting a <em>detect magic</em> spell just as he was wishing there was some way to tell if the crest was magical in any way. Just like that, he suddenly <em>knew</em> - in the deepest recess of his being - the Von Weisswurst family crest was magical in nature; perhaps Ogilvy was sending him some sort of a signal from beyond the grave? "I knew it!" he told the others. "It's magic!"</p><p></p><p>"How can you tell?" asked Harlan.</p><p></p><p>"It's--it's glowing! Can't you see it?" But to the others, it wasn't glowing at all.</p><p></p><p>"This is pure nonsense," complained Carlton Thorpe, closing back up his wagon and returning to sleep. The heroes vowed to bring their suspicions to Father Barbados in the morning; for now, the wounded cleric needed his sleep.</p><p></p><p>"But why would Father Barbados allow an evil brother and sister to join his wagon train?" asked Alistair, turning to Harlan. "Surely, as clerics, they could have detected the Thorpes' evil as easily as you?"</p><p></p><p>Harlan had no answer, but Ageratum did. "I think you'll find," she said, "that coin from evil folks spends just as well as coin from those of a nicer disposition."</p><p></p><p>"Hmm," frowned Alistair. He didn't like the explanation, but it would probably have to do. In the meantime, he helped the others drag the bodies of the zombies farther away from the wagons than the corpses of the kobolds and dire weasels that <em>hadn't</em> animated in the middle of the night.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>So, two adventures down and we're already nearly halfway to reaching Ghourmand Vale! We're also well over the halfway point to 2nd level; after the next adventure we'll all undoubtedly level up.</p><p></p><p>The "feelings" Alistair has been getting - and which he's ascribed to the spirit of Ogilvy - are in fact coming from the nascent empathic link with his grackle familiar, who has been trailing them (hence the feeling of being watched) and saw the kobold raiders exiting the weasel stables as our group was approaching from another direction. Eventually Alistair will clue in that the bird is his familiar, but first he has to realize he's actually a sorcerer - and who knows how long that'll take?</p><p></p><p>We went through a real dry spell where most of our dice were out to get us; I think we once went two full rounds where nobody rolled a d20 that resulted in a two-digit number. That certainly didn't help shorten the combat any, and Dan had said he was afraid this one might go a bit long. (He was right, too - we played from about 6:40 PM to just before 10:00.) But at least I didn't get called away back to work at the end of the adventure, so that was a plus.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8674523, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 2: GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 1[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 22 June 2022 - - - Eight days into the overland trek that Father Barbados had estimated was likely to be a 19-day journey, the four fledgling heroes had settled into the roles they had been assigned as part of the wagon train. Harlan was put in charge of security of the church's wagons - the others in the caravan were in theory responsible for the security of their own mounts and vehicles, but many of them assumed if there was going to be any trouble the heroes guarding the wagons of the clerics of Saint Cuthbert would take care of it - which meant he set up the rotating guard shifts for the night hours. He was also in full armor all day, ready to respond to any attacks by bandits or wandering monsters deciding to try their hand at grabbing up a traveler or two as a snack. Chaevaris was the group's scout, generally traveling up to a mile ahead of the rest of the caravan, ever alert for danger and generally capable of spotting it and dealing with it alone or sprinting back to the caravan with a warning of what to expect ahead. Alistair had been charged with keeping the wagons in general good repair, which mostly meant applying thick, sticky grease to the axles on a recurring basis - a chore he generally subcontracted to "Ogilvy," what he believed to be the ghostly spirit of a servant the Pastlethwaites had employed when Alistair and his brother were young but was in fact an [I]unseen servant[/I] spell the nascent sorcerer had been casting unknowingly. Ageratum had been assigned the role of cook's assistant, which was fairly important since the primary cook - Brother Scrimshaw, whose knowledge about cooking could only be kindly referred to as "marginal" at best - left much to be desired. (Although Alistair wasn't particularly put out by the poor quality of the rations, as he unconsciously cast a [I]prestidigitation[/I] spell before each meal and greatly enhanced the quality of the taste of Brother Scrimshaw's grub.) Besides the two clerics who had organized the caravan and the Thorpes, the brother and sister who had hired the heroes to fetch their grandfather's family crest before they had even left Greyhawk City on their journey west, there was a small group of dwarves, another group of elves, and a few humans, all with their own beasts of burden carrying their owners' goods in wagons or carts or on heavy packs upon their backs. Some caravan members rode in the carts or wagons pulled by the horses and mules, while others walked; Alistair was glad he had made the smart purchase of a traveler's outfit - including comfortable boots - for the lengthy journey to Ghourmand Vale, and while he rode in one of the wagons whenever feasible, he had put in quite a lot of miles on foot these past eight days. But he also kept a wary eye out, for despite never actually having seen anyone spying upon him, he had felt off and on a definite sense of being watched. Four days of travel had led the group to the city of Dyvers, while another four after that had brought them close to the Gnarley Forest; they camped for the night with the vast spread of trees just barely visible in the far distance. Brother Scrimshaw and Ageratum readied the evening meal as the others set up the tents and gathered up firewood to keep the cook-fires going, while Harlan ensured everything was locked down and he knew where each cart and wagon was located, and where every member of the caravan would be sleeping. As Chaevaris's elven heritage allowed for a minimal need for rest, the archer usually took a four-hour stretch of the night's guard shift, usually with Ageratum and Harlan each taking a two-hour shift. The clerics were left to sleep, so they'd have plenty of rest which would allow them to replenish any spells they might have cast during the previous day - other than a few [I]potions[/I] and [I]scrolls of cure light wounds[/I] the heroes had purchased with the money they'd earned from the Thorpes for retrieving the Von Weisswurst family crest, the Cuthbertians were the caravan's sole source of healing - and the general consensus between the other three was it was probably best to let Alistair get a full night's sleep, since he was apparently some sort of wizard even if he didn't seem to realize it himself. (Chaevaris was particularly insistent the young nobleman had somehow caused a skull to levitate and drop upon the animated skeletons they'd been fighting in the Von Weisswurst tomb.) Plus, without actually saying anything to Alistair, everyone probably slept better knowing their safety was [I]not[/I] in the hands of the inexperienced rich-boy fop, who wasn't likely to know how to react if some sort of danger reared its ugly head. But fortunately for those on guard duty, the eighth night passed uneventfully - until the screams woke the rest of the caravan up just as the sun was rising the following morning. The elven family had awakened from their nightly reverie to discover one of their children missing. As everyone was awakened by the elven mother's panicked screams, there was a commotion over at one of the wagons led by a family of human commoners - they, too, had a daughter missing. A quick search throughout the camp convinced everyone the two missing girls were not hiding anywhere - and, in fact, unearthed a set of tracks near the wagons where the girls had been sleeping. One of the dwarven travelers nodded knowingly and said, "Aye, these be th' tracks o' kobolds, they be - mine vermin, th' lot o' them!" Father Barbados quickly lined out a plan: the caravan would stay exactly where it was for the moment, while the four heroes followed the tracks to fetch the girls back from the kobolds and return them safely to their families. (The unspoken alternative, in the case the girls had already been slain and eaten by the time the heroes caught up with them, was to avenge their deaths by slaying the kobolds responsible and returning the girls' bodies to their families for burial.) In the meantime, one of the elves would ride at top speed to the nearest town to fetch a group of men capable of providing security for the stopped wagon train until the heroes' return with the girls. Harlan and Chaevaris wasted no time putting their armor back on, while Ageratum and Alistair gathered up their gear. Alistair opted to leave behind his carpetbag containing all of his worldly possessions; while the little halfling had helped him, with a few strands of thin rope, fashion a pair of straps that would allow him to wear it upon his back in the same manner as a backpack, there wasn't really anything in it the young nobleman felt he would need with him on a rescue mission - it mostly contained the nobleman's outfit he'd been wearing when his father kicked him out of the family (including those fashionable leather shoes with the buckles that had proven to be ill-suited to a life of adventuring), as well as a few extra items like his favorite book of elven poetry. But he had his waterskin and his rapier sheathed in its scabbard at his belt, as well as the [I]potion of cure light wounds[/I] he'd bought in Greyhawk City once it became quite apparent to the young nobleman just how dangerous the life of an adventurer could be. He was all set - and, oddly, he was feeling an odd sort of mental "tug" toward the Gnarley Forest to the north. Perhaps Ogilvy was trying to tell him which way the kobolds had taken the girls? Chaevaris led the way, as a keen pair of elven eyes was particularly well-suited to following kobold tracks through the wilderness, especially when said elven eyes belonged to an archer whose entire family had been raised to live off the land. And the trail did indeed lead to the north, towards the Gnarley Forest. It wasn't particularly difficult to determine which way the kobolds had taken the girls, either, as Chaevaris constantly pointed out drag-marks and reptilian footprints no bigger than Ageratum's. "They weren't even trying to avoid leaving any traces," the wood elf said with scorn. However, the trail kept on going. The sun reached its zenith overhead and the heroes were still following the kobold tracks, Alistair for one wondering how much farther the blasted kobolds could have gone but not wanting to voice his concerns (knowing full well he'd merely be looked down upon as a whining aristocrat unable to keep up with the more fit members of the lower classes, and he wasn't about to give them the opportunity for such condescension). They ate trail rations on the move, no one wanting to take the time out to stop long enough for a quick meal for fear they'd finally stumble upon the girls a mere minutes too late and have to explain to their parents they probably [I]could[/I] have saved them if only they hadn't taken that lunch break. But the afternoon grew long and the sun was over by the trees of the forest and still they were following the kobolds' trail. Alistair had all but given up hope towards dusk, realizing it would soon be too dark for any possible hope of being able to see the kobolds' tracks, when he once again received a feeling as if he were being mentally contacted by the spirit of his long-dead former family servant, this time accompanied by a sense of desperate urgency. "This way, fellows, quickly!" he called, racing to a downed tree trunk at the top of a depression. On the other side of the trunk, at the bottom of the depression, stood two openings into the side of a small hill just beyond: a cave network of some type. He scrambled over the downed trunk, the others following behind him, and peered fruitlessly into the darkness beyond. "We'll need light sources," replied Chaevaris, striking a light with flint and steel and starting a bullseye lantern glowing with flame. Then, holding it towards the larger of the two cave openings, the archer squinted to see into the cave. Ageratum pulled a sunrod from her pack while Chaevaris suggested someone take the lantern, saying, "I'd do better with both hands free, so I can use my bow." Say no more," replied Alistair. "Ogilvy, if you please!" In an instant, the lantern was gently tugged from the elf's hand and floated in midair, being held aloft by the [I]unseen servant[/I] spell Alistair had just cast without realizing it. Alistair unsheathed his rapier and directed his servant-spirit into the cave, following just behind with Chaevaris at his side, an arrow nocked and ready to fire. Harlan and Ageratum followed directly behind. There was a short corridor heading west before it made a turn to the north, and from the western end stepped two kobolds. Chaevaris's readied arrow went streaking down the narrow passageway, making a tinking sound as it struck the tip of an ivory horn and went veering off to the side. The kobold threw the shortspear he'd been wielding and it too missed its target, going well above Chaevaris's head. But then the other one followed suit and its small spear hit the archer in the upper arm, the tip stuck in the elf's leather armor. With a snarl of irritation, Chaevaris pulled it free and tossed it aside, not liking having been the first of the group to be bloodied by their foes. Ageratum snaked her way past the two companions before her and tossed one of her daggers at the first kobold, noting idly that neither reptile seemed to have any backup weapons; apparently they'd be relying upon teeth and claws until they could retrieve their thrown spears. But then she heard a noise from the north and spun in that direction. She couldn't see anything - the bullseye lantern was facing the two kobolds they were dealing with now - but it sounded like there were more kobolds approaching from some distance away to the north. Harlan moved up, dodging the swipe of a set of claws from the foremost kobold as he brought his sword down upon it. But the little reptile was nimble and the half-elf's blade missed its target. However, it couldn't dodge from everyone at the same time and the tip of Alistair's rapier pierced the little reptile's breast, causing it to yip in pain and surprise. Chaevaris nocked another arrow and let fly, this one also missing its target, the kobold not currently otherwise engaged in melee. But then as one they hurled themselves at these intruders to their den, one going for Alistair and the other for Harlan in a flurry of teeth and claws. They were certainly putting on a great show of fearlessness, but neither managed to connect with their given targets. Ageratum threw her only remaining dagger at one of the kobolds, who saw it coming in time and managed to dodge it - but was then cut down by a swing of Harlan's longsword. Just that quickly, the kobolds had taken their first casualty. Ageratum scurried forward to gather up the closest of her thrown daggers as the remaining kobold dashed about, avoiding weapon-strikes from Alistair and Harlan and another arrow from Chaevaris. However, it in turn was unable to hit any of its targets with its snapping teeth. Ageratum finally slew it with another thrown dagger, knocking it over into at least unconsciousness; not wanting to take the chance of it surviving, the halfling slit its throat with her blade before wiping the blood off on its scaly hide. At Alistair's direction, "Ogilvy" spun the bullseye lantern to the north and the group could see a quartet of kobolds approaching, just at the edge of the area of illumination. "They are evil," Harlan announced, seeing he had plenty of time to analyze their auras before they got within spear-chucking distance. He stepped forward into a defensive position, his sword held before him, ready to strike. Alistair copied the paladin's move with his own rapier, as Ogilvy moved off to the side, out of the way. When the kobolds were still a good 80 feet away, Chaevaris released an arrow that struck one of the four kobolds right through the eye, killing him instantly. That gave the elven archer a distinct sense of accomplishment, especially considering all of the arrows that had missed thus far since entering the cave. The other three raced forward, yipping and yapping with spears held before them, charging the intruders. One headed straight for Harlan - which was a mistake, for the paladin stepped to the side of the spear-tip and stabbed forward with his longsword, skewering the kobold straight through the heart and slaying him instantly. Another, apparently blinded by the bright light, mistook the hovering lantern as being held by something other than an [I]unseen servant[/I] spell and viciously attacked it, yipping in surprise when his spear met no resistance by a physical body. Ageratum fetched her other thrown dagger and moved quietly up to the rest of the group, who were at this point eagerly fighting it out with the little reptiles. But despite a whole lot of flailing weapons (on both sides), very little actual hitting the enemy seemed to be going on. One kobold finally managed to poke Harlan in the leg with the tip of his spear; Ageratum was close enough to stab the little beast for the effrontery. Chaevaris brought down another kobold with an arrow strike, having practiced shooting at much shorter distances than those normally used in hunting prey. The last remaining kobold managed to get in another hit on Harlan before the half-elf slew it with his longsword, practically taking the thing's head off with a lateral swing of his blade. The immediate fight over, the group took a moment to look around. There were bones lying scattered on the floor, the remains of past meals, but none of them looked to be fresh enough (they hoped) to belong to the girls from the caravan. There were two exits from this larger cavern, one to the west and one to the north; after a moment of concentration, Harlan deemed there was a greater concentration of evil to the north than there was to the west, although there were definitely sources of evil in both directions. Judging it prudent to take out the stronger enemies while the heroes were still relatively uninjured - Harlan and Chaevaris were the only ones hit thus far, and neither deemed it necessary to apply any magical healing, opting instead to merely bind their wounds as needed with clean linens from their backpacks - the paladin led the group north, accompanied by the floating bullseye lantern. In the next room - a shrine of some sort, although it was apparent the symbols of a newer god had been inscribed over the older ones carved into the stone walls of the cavern - came a group of three strange creatures, entering from a passageway leading even further north. These creatures walked upright and were the size of a man, but had sloping, overly-large skulls ending in a distinct muzzle with protruding fangs. The creatures wore naught but a simple loincloth of ragged leather, revealing graying skin covered in knobby warts and protrusions. They spotted the heroes, raised their wooden clubs, and sprang forward into combat with a shared roar of impending triumph. Alistair stepped forward fully into the temple but then dodged off to one side, raising his rapier in a defensive stance. Chaevaris brought down the first of these norkers with an arrow to the throat, killing it as it fell to the ground and choked on its own blood. Ageratum stepped in front of the archer, both daggers raised for action as soon as any of these hulking brutes got close enough to strike. Harlan followed suit, providing the remaining two norkers a row of three potential foes to fight, behind which an elven archer readied another arrow. One norker opted to charge at Harlan, perhaps incensed by the holy symbol of Pelor the paladin proudly wore upon the tabard covering his armor. Harlan tried to dodge under the norker's club but wasn't quite fast enough, and then failed to connect when he swung his sword at the brute. The other norker chose to go after Ageratum, perhaps viewing the halfling as the weakest of the group and thus the easiest to kill, but while he managed to hit the nimble rogue she proved him wrong by rolling with the blow, staying on her feet and easily surviving the attack. Alistair stepped forward and stabbed at the norker who had just attacked Ageratum - incensed at the mind-set of a brute who would deliberately attack a woman, no matter her stature - with his rapier, missing entirely. Chaevaris hit him with an arrow, but the norker merely roared in defiance and kept fighting on, ignoring the shaft sticking out of his midsection. But then Ageratum scurried up, both daggers slashing out in opposite directions as she sliced the brute's belly open, causing it to topple forward and fall to the stone floor, dead. Harlan and the remaining norker danced around each other, swinging their weapons repeatedly but failing to hit. Alistair tried stabbing the norker and Chaevaris tried shooting it, neither with any luck. But then Ageratum snuck in and stabbed a dagger deep into its side, killing it while it had been concentrating on its larger foes. [I]That'll teach it![/I] the halfling thought, before realizing it was no longer in any position to learn anything ever again. She contemptuously wiped her bloody blades clean on his snout. "Now what?" she asked. Harlan took a moment to unroll one of his two [I]scrolls of cure light wounds[/I], patching up the worst of his battle damage before leading the group to the passageway headed further north. "I say!" Alistair said upon entering what had apparently been at one point a kobold's throne room - [I]Perhaps before the tribe of reptiles had been taken over by those larger brutes,[/I] the nobleman theorized. But he had Ogilvy cast the light from Chaevaris's bullseye lantern all around the room, while the archer used the inherent senses all elves gained at birth to see if there were any secret passageways out of what otherwise seemed like a dead-end room. "There - in the corner!" called out the wood elf, pointing to the remains of a hanging curtain that had no doubt at one point been a vibrant green. Pulling it aside, Alistair saw a narrow passageway leading down into darkness. "This way with the lantern, if you please, Ogilvy!" the nobleman called out, following his [I]unseen servant[/I] down a winding passageway that had to have led them at least 20 feet lower than the caverns above. About halfway down, the young aristocrat picked up the sound of a female voice singing - and in Elven, at that! Arriving at the bottom of the winding passageway, Alistair saw two girls, one an elf and the other a human, both looking to be about seven summers old (although the nobleman realized the elf was probably several decades older than she appeared, given the elven slow rate of growth), sitting at the edge of stone ringing a fountain of water springing up from the ground. The spring water was slightly luminous, Alistair noted, as the human girl washed her face in the waters from the pool and the elf girl sang her song. "I say!" Alistair called as they shot a worried glance in his direction once they noticed the light from the bullseye lantern being directed their way. Then he switched to the Elven tongue, a language in which he had been tutored for many years. "Don't worry; we're from the caravan - we were sent to bring you back to your parents!" "You talk funny," pointed out the elven girl in much more fluent Elven than Alistair had mastered. "How did you get down here?" Chaevaris asked the elven girl in her own language, uncertain whether she spoke the Common tongue. "Those little monsters gave us to the bigger monsters, who made us stay in the room upstairs," the elf child replied. "When they stepped out of the room, we found the tunnel down here. I don't even know if they know this place is down here! But the water is very refreshing, and they hadn't given us anything to eat or drink, so we helped ourselves." Alistair took the opportunity to refill his waterskin from the fountain, noting he'd nearly emptied it on the trip to the kobold lair. Harlan and Chaevaris each drank directly from the fountain, finding it had a magical effect, healing up the worst of their remaining wounds. Quick experimentation determined the fountain's effects affected each person but once, although it was possible it might heal them further again after a suitable amount of time had passed. "Are you taking us back to the wagons now?" asked the human girl. "I want my Mum." "Well, it's a long way away and it's getting dark outside," replied Harlan. "And we've...taken care of a lot of monsters upstairs, but we're not sure if there are any more up there or not. So I think the best thing for now is for you two to stay here where it's safe, while we go back up and make sure there are no other monsters to bother us. Then we can all go home tomorrow. How does that sound?" "No!" cried the little girl. "I want to come with you!" Ageratum volunteered to stay with the girls in case they were afraid the heroes would leave without them, but they insisted - quite stridently - on coming with. Eventually, Ageratum agreed on behalf of the whole group, telling them they could come with them if they stayed well back from any monsters and stayed quiet. They promised, and Ageratum in turn promised the others she'd personally look after them. The girls seemed to take a shine to the little halfling at once; she was, after all, not only the closest thing they had to a mother figure at the moment but was also about their own size. "I'll keep them safe, too," Chaevaris promised. "All right then," agreed Harlan. "Let's go." He led the six of them back up to the kobold throne room, well aware there had been that other source of evil emanations coming from the west, plus a passageway further east of where they had first entered the kobold warren. Retracing their steps through the kobold throne room and the converted worship shrine (with Ageratum telling the girls to cover their eyes so they didn't see the dead bodies of the scary monsters and making sure they complied), Harlan led the group to the kobold hall with all of the scattered bones. A side passageway to the west led a short distance and then veered back north in a dog-leg before coming to a dead end. However, in that dead end stood two more kobolds with shortspears, as well as a few crawling, lizardlike infants and a bunch of leathery eggs yet to hatch the pair seemed to be guarding. The kobolds were the smallest the group had encountered thus far, possibly being much younger in age. Still... "Evil?" asked Alistair, turning to the half-paladin for confirmation. "Evil," replied Harlan. That was all Alistair needed to hear; he ran forward and poked one of the kobold babysitters in the torso with the point of his rapier. Chaevaris hit the other one with an arrow, as it struck Alistair with its spear; shortly after, Harlan crossed the room and cut it down with his longsword. Ageratum hung back with the two girls while Chaevaris took out the remaining kobold with another well-placed arrow, and then the three took to wiping out the others, Chaevaris going so far as burning the unhatched eggs after dousing them with a flask of oil. "Back to the front entrance," Harlan ordered, leaving the carnage behind and leading the group to the twin openings back outside. But then, rather than heading outside, he took the other passageway leading to the eastern side of the warren, which after a quick exploration led to a sort of assembly hall filled with weapon racks and barrels, all empty. Further north there was a stable of sorts smelling of fish and musk. There were a few sets of tack and harness, which along with the musky smell led Chaevaris to hazard a guess the kobolds had a few dire weasels they rode into battle. "They're probably out on a raid," the archer guessed, not realizing at the time just exactly how accurate that statement was. By then, it was full night outside and Harlan confirmed his initial decision it was safer to spend the night here and get a good, fresh start back to the caravan in the morning. Chaevaris gave the entire warren a good look around and found no other secret passageways, other than discovering a set of camouflaged doors in the weasel stables leading outside. At some point during the archer's searching the duration of Alistair's [I]unseen servant[/I] spell expired, sending the bullseye lantern crashing to the stone floor of the cave. "Ah, good!" exclaimed Alistair. "Ogilvy must have sensed there was no longer any danger and departed. Poor thing; it must be tiring for the old boy to manifest as long as he does." Harlan, however, was not willing to put any stock in an unseen spirit's assessment of the overall safety of the situation and decided Ageratum and the girls would spend the night down in the relative safety of the fountain chamber, while the other three took turns on guard duty upstairs in case any of the kobolds or norkers returned during the night. But the night passed uneventfully - even though Alistair fervent wished he'd brought his bedroll along, although just how he'd have been expected to realize the kobolds would have taken the kidnapped girls so far away was beyond him - and the next morning, Chaevaris woke the two men and the three of them went down to the fountain chamber. There, they each drank their fill (and sure enough, the healing properties of the water apparently kicked in anew each day), then started their day-long trek back to the caravan. Ageratum took the time to snatch up all of the kobolds' shortspears that still seemed to be in halfway decent condition, figuring they were well-sized for her and would make good walking sticks for the girls on the way back, if nothing else. As expected, the journey took all day, but Chaevaris kept them all going in the right direction, and was even able to direct them to several berry bushes after first deeming them safe to eat. They finally caught site of the caravan an hour or so past twilight - they hadn't been able to travel as quickly with the girls as they had when tracking the kobolds, and needed to take several breaks throughout the long trek - and walked into camp, to the surprise and joy of the caravan members, especially the families of the two girls. But there were several strange faces among the group, as Brother Scrimshaw explained to the heroes. "These are men from Celene," he said. "One of the elves rode out to gain their assistance, and it was a good thing they did - we were attacked while you were gone." "Attacked?" asked Ageratum. "By who?" Alistair bit back the temptation to correct her by saying, "By whom?" - having learned his new companions did not seem to care as much about such things as did the young nobleman. "A band of kobolds, two of them riding giant weasels," the cleric of Saint Cuthbert answered. "We fought them off, but there are plenty of wounded, and it was all Father Barbados and I could do to provide enough healing. He was injured fairly badly in the attack, too, I might add. He's sleeping in the wagon." "Were there any norkers among the raiders?" asked Chaevaris. "Norkers? Nope, nothing like that - just the kobolds." He took them over to where the bodies of the slain raiders - and their two mounts - had been dumped, off a bit away from the rest of the wagons. Harlan squatted down and lifted a crude symbol worn about the neck of a slain kobold, hanging by a piece of leather thong. "Hmm," he grunted, lifting it up to the others. "Anybody recognize it?" Ageratum did. "That's the symbol that was scratched into the walls of the kobold shrine, over the older ones." Harlan nodded. "It's the unholy symbol of Iuz," he said, dropping the wooden carving and letting it fall back on the dead kobold's chest. By then, the elven girl had dragged her parents over to the heroes. "We give thanks for the rescue of our daughter," the elven man proclaimed in his own language. "Please, allow us to repay you with these tokens of our appreciation." Their honor demanded as much and they would not be swayed, so Harlan was given a masterwork elven longsword; Chaevaris was gifted a suit of elven chainmail; Ageratum was presented a masterwork short sword built for someone of her size, and Alistair was granted a masterwork silver dagger. "I will treasure this always," the nobleman replied in the Elven tongue, and if the girl's father winced at the human's horrific accent he had the good grace to at least appreciate the attempt. Seeing this, the human girl's parents approached the heroes as well. "We're mere peasants, without much in the way of money or goods to properly thank you for bringing our daughter back to us, safe and sound," the mother said while hugging the seven-year-old tight to her side, "but when we get to Ghourmand Vale, you're all welcome to stay with us if you've nowhere else to go. We don't have much, like I say, but we do have a small home there waiting for us." Harlan thanked them for their generosity and excused himself to see about setting up security for the wagon train's members. He wasn't at all surprised to see the other wagons were taking the idea of setting up guards a bit more seriously now, instead of leaving it all to the fledgling heroes. The warriors from Celene said their farewells; they'd been more than happy to help out but it seemed the wagon train had their own adventurers back and they sought to get back to their own families. Brother Scrimshaw blessed them and sent them on their way with a small bag of coins for their assistance. Harlan finished his guard shift late that night and was waking up Chaevaris when they both heard a noise. The archer, scrambling into armor and grabbing up bow and quiver while the paladin went to check it out, squinted out into the darkness - for the clouds were heavy and most of the watch-fires had burned low. They could make out a few small figures, shambling around as if drunk, making an erratic bee-line for the Thorpe wagon. As the two heroes approached the figures, Harlan saw they were two kobold zombies on foot and one riding upon the back of a dire weasel, the furry creature also apparently having joined the ranks of the undead. Harlan cried out an alarm as he rushed toward the closest zombie, channeling Pelor's power through his new elven longsword as he brought it down in a smiting attack, but the staggering zombie managed to sway away from the blade at the last moment, whether intentionally or not being somewhat difficult to determine. Ageratum crawled out from under the wagon where she'd been sleeping, darting forward with her two daggers in hand, slashing at the nearest zombie but getting her foot caught up in her bedroll, which threw off her attack. Alistair attacked the undead dire weasel with his silver dagger, idly wondering if silver weapons had any special properties against undead - he dimly recalled, from the "Elfy Danger Silverleaf" stories he'd read as a young lad, that they were the weapons of choice against dreaded werebeasts. The elven blade hit true, sinking up to the hilt into the weasel's stinking flesh, and Alistair pulled it back out again, sad to see the wound had not caused the creature to bleed, but then belatedly realizing a zombie wasn't likely to bleed in any case - Funke Von Weisswurst certainly hadn't, and that was the young nobleman's only other experience with zombies. The zombie Harlan had attacked swung a feeble arm towards the paladin's direction - quite easily avoided - while the one Ageratum had targeted shambled over her way. The dire weasel snapped its nasty rodent teeth at Alistair, catching him on the arm, while the rider on its back swayed to and fro, apparently in undeath unable to regain the riding expertise it had mastered in life. Harlan responded by swinging his new blade down at the kobold zombie who had attacked him, nearly severing one arm from the shoulder; it dangled from a hunk of muscle connecting it to the severed bone. The zombie suddenly sprouted an arrow shaft in its sternum, courtesy of Chaevaris's keen eye and well-strung bow. Then Ageratum made the killing blow with her daggers, sending the corpse to the ground where it once again lay motionlessly in the dirt. Alistair stabbed ineffectually at the undead dire weasel and then fell back, grabbing his bleeding arm and hoping a bite from a zombie wasn't automatically horrifically disease-ridden. The weasel turned to Harlan, its next-closest target, and snapped its teeth at the half-elf, who easily dodged the slow-moving attack. But then the other kobold zombie headed his way as well. Harlan swung at the newcomer, slicing through the muscles of its chest, causing it stagger backwards a step before moving forward once again. Chaevaris launched another arrow at the kobold zombie, hitting it square on - not that the undead thing even seemed to notice. Ageratum stabbed at the weasel and then stepped back a safe distance, having noted their speed was one distinct advantage the heroes had over these slow-moving, shambling corpses. But Alistair was apparently no longer willing to get within biting distance of the zombies, calling out, "Ogilvy, if you please!" At once, a rock rose up from the ground and maneuvered its way through the air before dropping down upon the kobold zombie with the arrow shaft sticking out of its chest; the rock hit the arrow and was deflected away and Ogilvy was entreated by Alistair to pick it back up and try again. Harlan slashed at the zombie with his masterwork longsword, the blade ripping through undead scales and the muscle beneath. Then he too stepped back, allowing the zombie to come to him - better it waste its time in staggered movement rather than attacking with teeth or claws. Chaevaris, irritated that arrows weren't doing a whole lot against these lumbering undead, charged the standing zombie with a dagger, missing the jerking creature entirely. Ageratum used both of her daggers against the dire weasel zombie, dropping it instantly to the ground and causing its undead kobold rider to stumble from its back and try to attack the heroes while standing - however wobbly - on its own two feet. As Ogilvy dropped a rock and once again missed with it, the zombie struck a slow-moving limb in Chaevaris's direction. Harlan stabbed it and stepped back; Chaevaris stabbed at it, missed, and stepped back. Ageratum got in a hit and stepped back, and now it was almost a kind of game, seeing how long the heroes could "steer" the zombies one way or another, the undead not ever quite catching up to their living prey. Chaevaris, flanking a zombie with Harlan, managed to cut it down with a dagger-strike to the head - that was more like it! There was now only one kobold zombie remaining. Ogilvy dropped a rock on its noggin as Ageratum stabbed it in the gut and stepped back. The zombie followed after the halfling, allowing Harlan, Chaevaris, and Ageratum to each get in an attack, neither of which managed to deal the undead reptile any harm at all. The zombie got in a lucky strike at Chaevaris, slashing its ragged claws along the elf's arm, but then Harlan brought it down with a final slash of his blade. "Is everyone okay?" he asked the others, getting responses indicating while there were wounds to be tended to, nobody was in any desperate need of healing. "What caused them to animate?" Ageratum asked. "Yes, quite, and why just those and not all of them?" Alistair added. There didn't seem to be any major differences between the three kobolds and the others who had failed to return to an unholy semblance of life, nor did the other slain dire weasel have any original wounds any worse than the one who had reanimated for whatever unknown reason. It was Chaevaris who came to the realization the four corpses that had animated had all been the physically closest to the Thorpes' wagon - and, the archer recalled, they had originally been heading directly for the Thorpes' wagon before being engaged in battle by the four-person wagon security team. Harlan activated his paladin senses and scoured the slain zombies' bodies for any signs of evil; now that they were "dead" once again they had no such emanations of evil seeping from them - they were no more evil than the ground below them. However, turning about and facing the wagon containing the Thorpe siblings, the paladin got a distinct sense of evil coming from inside the wagon. "That family crest!" Chaevaris gasped. "I'll bet that thing's evil - and that's why those skeletons were trying to get to it! It somehow animates and calls out to the undead it creates!" Harlan pounded on the Thorpes' enclosed wagon and rose them from their slumber. "We'd like to see that family crest," Harlan told Carlton Thorpe, explaining their suspicions. "Ridiculous!" scoffed Carlton - as the paladin realized he was getting a slight reading of evil coming from both Carlton and his sister Maya. But he brought forth the crest the heroes had unearthed from his grandfather's tomb and Harlan examined it closely. To his surprise, he picked up no evil emanations from it. "Is there a way it might be magically shielded?" asked Alistair, subconsciously casting a [I]detect magic[/I] spell just as he was wishing there was some way to tell if the crest was magical in any way. Just like that, he suddenly [I]knew[/I] - in the deepest recess of his being - the Von Weisswurst family crest was magical in nature; perhaps Ogilvy was sending him some sort of a signal from beyond the grave? "I knew it!" he told the others. "It's magic!" "How can you tell?" asked Harlan. "It's--it's glowing! Can't you see it?" But to the others, it wasn't glowing at all. "This is pure nonsense," complained Carlton Thorpe, closing back up his wagon and returning to sleep. The heroes vowed to bring their suspicions to Father Barbados in the morning; for now, the wounded cleric needed his sleep. "But why would Father Barbados allow an evil brother and sister to join his wagon train?" asked Alistair, turning to Harlan. "Surely, as clerics, they could have detected the Thorpes' evil as easily as you?" Harlan had no answer, but Ageratum did. "I think you'll find," she said, "that coin from evil folks spends just as well as coin from those of a nicer disposition." "Hmm," frowned Alistair. He didn't like the explanation, but it would probably have to do. In the meantime, he helped the others drag the bodies of the zombies farther away from the wagons than the corpses of the kobolds and dire weasels that [I]hadn't[/I] animated in the middle of the night. - - - So, two adventures down and we're already nearly halfway to reaching Ghourmand Vale! We're also well over the halfway point to 2nd level; after the next adventure we'll all undoubtedly level up. The "feelings" Alistair has been getting - and which he's ascribed to the spirit of Ogilvy - are in fact coming from the nascent empathic link with his grackle familiar, who has been trailing them (hence the feeling of being watched) and saw the kobold raiders exiting the weasel stables as our group was approaching from another direction. Eventually Alistair will clue in that the bird is his familiar, but first he has to realize he's actually a sorcerer - and who knows how long that'll take? We went through a real dry spell where most of our dice were out to get us; I think we once went two full rounds where nobody rolled a d20 that resulted in a two-digit number. That certainly didn't help shorten the combat any, and Dan had said he was afraid this one might go a bit long. (He was right, too - we played from about 6:40 PM to just before 10:00.) But at least I didn't get called away back to work at the end of the adventure, so that was a plus. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
Top