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
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: 8686775" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 3: WE'RE HERE - NOW WHAT?</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: 6 July 2022</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"Give it here," demanded Father Barbados. Reluctantly, Carlton Thorpe turned over his family crest to the cleric's care. The four heroes had explained to the good Father the events of the previous evening, to include their belief the Von Weisswurst crest had been responsible for the animation of the three kobold zombies and the undead dire weasel they'd been forced to fight off to save the wagon train's sleeping members.</p><p></p><p>"It's perfectly harmless," complained Carlton Thorpe. "I don't know what these four are on about." Harlan had taken Father Barbados aside before they approached the Thorpes' wagon and explained the evil the young paladin had sensed in both Carlton and his sister Maya. Barbados had cast a <em>detect evil</em> spell of his own and confirmed the paladin's claims, but the Thorpes were part of his wagon train and he'd not send them away after they'd paid for safe passage, the same as any of the others.</p><p></p><p>"Be that as it may," Father Barbados explained, "I'll keep this in me own wagon fer th' time bein'. Once we get t' Ghourmand Vale, I'll be a-wantin' t' have it looked at by a feller I know. I give ye me word ye'll get it back after that." And that was the cleric's last word on the subject; Carlton Thorpe had no real recourse but to take the wagon master at his word.</p><p></p><p>"Very well," he agreed, a sour look upon his face. "See that I do!"</p><p></p><p>"Let's get t' packin' up," suggested Barbados. "It's time we were on our way!" Alistair saw to the loading of the church's wagons, stowing the tents and the cooking utensils they'd used to prepare their brief breakfast. Then he looked down over by the remains of the fire, its embers doused with the leftover water from the cookpot. There, on the ground beside the smoking ashes, stood a dark bird looking up at him.</p><p></p><p>"Oh great," grumbled Alistair. "That blasted crow is back!"</p><p></p><p>"That's not a crow," explained Chaevaris, head shaking in exasperation. "That's a grackle. And its presence here should be no surprise, given it's quite apparent the bird is your familiar."</p><p></p><p>"My what?" demanded Alistair. "Whatever do you mean?"</p><p></p><p>"I'm not sure why you continue to deny it, but you're quite obviously an arcane spellcaster - and that bird is your familiar."</p><p></p><p>"Preposterous!" exploded Alistair. "I'm no wizard! Besides, familiars are black cats - everyone knows that!"</p><p></p><p>The elven archer just sighed dramatically and asked, voice dripping with sarcasm, "And I suppose you got this nugget of wisdom from one of your 'Elfy Danger' books?"</p><p></p><p>"As it happens, yes," admitted the young nobleman. He recalled quite clearly that black cat familiars played an important role in both <em>Elfy and the Wicked Wizard of Witchhaven</em> and <em>Elfy Fights the One-Eyed Wizard</em>.</p><p></p><p>"Of course," Chaevaris snorted and turned away, quite apparently no longer interested in having a conversation with such a foolish child.</p><p></p><p>"It's very possible, you know," Ageratum piped in. "Familiars can be more than black cats. I know a wizard associated with the Guild that has an owl as a familiar, and another who has a rat." At that, Alistair frowned in distaste - a rat? Seriously?</p><p></p><p>But now that the seed had been planted in the young nobleman's mind, Alistair found it rapidly taking root. Was it possible? Could it be he was a wizard, after all? It would explain a few things that had happened, like books floating across the room in his father's library when he was too lazy to get up and fetch them. Here he'd assumed it was the spirit of his old servant Ogilvy come back after his death to look after his former charge, but perhaps it had really been him all along! "Well?" Alistair asked the grackle, who still stood there looking up at him. "Are you my familiar?"</p><p></p><p>The grackle, being a bird, did not have a face built for providing much in the way of expressions, but it managed to somehow project an aura of mild exasperation as it took flight and landed upon Alistair's shoulder. "Well then, I suppose I shall have to give you a name," the young man decided. "I shall call you...<strong>Ambrose</strong>." Lord Ambrose Pastlethwaite was Alistair's stern father, but it caused the ignorant sorcerer to break into a slight smile at the thought he would at least have <em>one</em> Ambrose in his life willing to listen to him and actually do what he said.</p><p></p><p><em>So I'm a wizard</em>, Alistair thought proudly to himself. The concept certainly gave Alistair something to chew on during the rest of the journey to Ghourmand Vale.</p><p></p><p>And the next nine days passed by rather uneventfully, each day blending into the other without much to differentiate them. Chaevaris took point each morning, on the lookout for dangers as the wagon train followed in the elven archer's wake. Harlan stood by, ready to leap into battle against bold bandits or hungry wildlife, but neither put in an appearance - nor were they bothered at night by zombies heading toward the Von Weisswurst crest. Ageratum got better at cooking (and shared some of her secrets and discoveries with Brother Scrimshaw, much to the relief of those eating the meals they prepared) and Alistair took to the role of "wagon lackey" to such an extent Father Barbados often let him sit in the driver's spot and lead the horse pulling the elder cleric's wagon. In this fashion they made their journey and before they knew it had arrived in the boomtown of Ghourmand Vale.</p><p></p><p>"There it be, gentlefolk!" Father Barbados boomed as the town came into view. "Praise be t' Saint Cuthbert fer safe travels t' us all!"</p><p></p><p>Once arriving at their destination, the wagons making up the cross-country caravan each went their separate ways. The elves steered their wagons to the south of the town, for they were a family of delegates of Celene, one of the two bordering kingdoms arguing over which of them owned the land upon which Ghourmand Vale sat - the other being Veluna, to the north. The dwarves continued on to the nearby mountains, heading for the mines to be found there, while the human family reminded the four fledgling heroes of their offer to let them stay at their house until they made other, more permanent, accommodations. Harlan got directions from them and promised to meet up with them later, after they concluded their business with the two clerics of St. Cuthbert.</p><p></p><p>But it was soon after the two church wagons had been driven to the temple of St. Cuthbert and unloaded, and the four hirelings had been paid their wages - a hefty ten pieces of gold each - that a follow-on job landed in their laps almost immediately. <strong>Brother Scarborough</strong>, the cleric in charge of the temple during Father Barbados's absence, announced the food stocks they relied upon from a nearby farm was overdue in their delivery and food was getting scarce. Not wanting to have to rely upon constant castings of <em>create food and water</em> for their sustenance, Father Barbados hired the four heroes to go check out the situation at the farm. He gave them directions to the place - a good half-day's travel away - and sent them off with horses and a wagon while he dealt with the Thorpes, who were already wanting to get their family crest back. "I told ye - ye'll get it back after I've 'ad me friend look it over. I'll send word t' him at once; he should be here in no more'n a day or two - three, tops." Harlan noted the church was fairly new and lacked a graveyard, so he felt fairly certain keeping what he believed to be a cursed item in the temple of St. Cuthbert wasn't likely to raise undead in the meantime; he was also glad he no longer had to deal with the Thorpes, whose evil auras filled the half-elf with distrust.</p><p></p><p>"Why are we wasting time with wagons and horses?" asked Alistair. "I'm a wizard: I can just <em>teleport</em> us to the farmhouse!"</p><p></p><p>"You can, huh?" scoffed Chaevaris. "Using what spellbook?"</p><p></p><p>"Ah...hmmm," muttered Alistair. "I may have discovered a slight flaw in my plan." He had forgotten that wizards needed spellbooks. Well, perhaps <em>commoner</em> wizards did, but he was of noble birth: it was possible he was just so naturally gifted in the wizardly arts he needed no such crutches! Lifting his arms majestically to his sides, he concentrated on <em>teleporting</em> the group to the farmhouse Father Barbados had described...and then, well aware of Chaevaris's smirking face, climbed into the driver's seat of the wagon and picked up the reins. Ageratum climbed in beside him, while Harlan and Chaevaris each climbed up into the saddle of a horse. Together, the four headed down the road back the way the caravan had come, only heading south once they got back out of town.</p><p></p><p>They were getting near, if their directions were accurate, when they approached a Y-shaped meeting of three roads: the road the group was traversing, through a heavily-wooded section of forest, split into a fork just ahead, and according to Father Barbados they needed to take the right branch. But the sound of pounding hoofbeats was fast approaching from that direction and Alistair pulled back on the reins of the horse pulling the empty wagon, not wanting to cause a collision. It was good that he did so - and that Chaevaris and Harlan brought their own steeds to a halt beside the wagon - for a slightly larger wagon came barreling down the road, weaving erratically as the two hobgoblins in the front of the vehicle whipped the horses on faster and faster. A third hobgoblin hung on for dear life in the back of the wagon, occasionally repositioning a small crate or barrel as they shifted about. Then, just as the speeding conveyance went barreling past the heroes, the horses took the turn hard and the right rear wagon wheel snapped in half, canting the wagon to one side and throwing the three hobgoblins forward into the dirt. The horses, unable to drag the wagon any further with an axle digging into the ground, came to a well-desired halt, their tongues lolling from their panting mouths.</p><p></p><p>In an instant, Chaevaris lifted an arrow into place and sighted down it, focusing on a target: the left-most hobgoblin, just now picking himself up off the ground. The archer continued sighting down the arrow, lining up the shot perfectly. Not wanting to spoil the elf's concentration, nor do anything to alert the oblivious hobgoblins of their presence, Alistair silently slid the rapier from the scabbard at his belt and prepared himself to stab forward should one of these thieves step forward to attack him, for he could see many of the crates and barrels in the damaged wagon were marked with the holy symbol stamp of Saint Cuthbert. Alistair had no doubt this was the wagon of missing food they'd been sent to procure, and the hobgoblins the reason for the tardiness of its delivery. At his side, Ageratum silently picked up one of the kobold shortspears she'd taken from the den of reptilian raiders over a week ago and likewise readied herself to throw it as soon as Chaevaris let loose with the readied arrow. That, the little halfling decided, would be their signal to attack, and she chose the hobgoblin from the back of the wagon as her target, as he grumbled sourly to himself while inspecting the shattered wagon wheel.</p><p></p><p>Harlan took a moment to examine the auras of the hobgoblins, confirming his suspicions that they reeked of evil - for who would steal food from a farmhouse but those of an evil bent? He slid his masterwork longsword from its sheath as quietly as he could and awaited Chaevaris's attack, while one of the hobgoblins made as if to unharness the right-most horse from the now-useless wagon.</p><p></p><p>Once the shot had been lined up to the archer's satisfaction, a simple release of the bowstring sent the arrow flashing across the distance to bury itself in the left-most hobgoblin's neck, slaying him instantly. Almost immediately thereafter, Alistair called out, "If you please, Ogilvy!" - for even if he <em>was</em> a wizard and it was him causing the rock to rise up from the ground and hover above the second hobgoblin's head, old habits died hard - and the unconsciously-cast <em>unseen servant</em> dropped the rock, allowing it to plunk down upon the hobgoblin's head. He snapped his head up, looking to see who had just attacked him in so awkward a manner, and just barely missed being skewered by Ageratum's thrown shortspear, the tip of the weapon whizzing just past his head. But then Harlan dropped from his horse and charged across the road, bringing his blade stabbing into the astonished hobgoblin's chest before he had time to react.</p><p></p><p>That just left one hobgoblin, who leaped up onto the back of the horse he'd just freed and wheeled it around to return back to the farmhouse from which the trio had just left. That turned out to be a dire mistake, for as he rode past the paladin of Pelor, Harlan slashed at him with his blade, slicing open his leg something fierce. Chaevaris brought him down with another arrow, this one piercing the back of his head - and just that quickly, the battle was over, none of the heroes having even received so much as a scratch.</p><p></p><p>"This wagon has no spare wheel!" announced Alistair in indignation upon investigating the downed wagon. As a now fully-trained "wagon lackey," he found the lack of a spare wheel to be quite shocking. So he commanded Ogilvy to start transferring the goods from the broken wagon to the one he had driven from the church of Saint Cuthbert. The <em>unseen servant</em>, being nothing more than a spell effect, gave no indications of exasperation nor did it voice a single word of complaint, two qualities which leant themselves to full appreciation from the unknowing sorcerer. Harlan and Chaevaris stripped the hobgoblins of their weapons, loading them onto the wagon as well. Once the foodstuff had been successfully transferred and tied securely down, and the two horses from the broken wagon secured to the back of the good wagon by their reins, Harlan voiced the opinion they should continue on to the farmhouse to check on the inhabitants, for it was unlikely they handed over their goods to the three hobgoblins without a struggle. Alistair and Ageratum returned to the now-packed wagon, while Harlan and Chaevaris got back on their horses. The paladin led the way, the others following directly behind.</p><p></p><p>The road led directly to the farmhouse and it was quite apparent there had been a fierce combat here recently, for the ground before the building was covered in blood. Alistair brought the wagon to a halt and the two riders dismounted from their horses, tying their reins to a pair of trees while they scoped the place out. There was nobody in sight, neither in front of the farmhouse before them, nor over by the stables or shed off to the right.</p><p></p><p>Alistair decided to take the direct approach, heading towards the middle of the farmhouse, where a pair of double doors looked to be the main entrance to the single-story building. There was another door further off to the left and a shuttered window to the right, and it was from the window that a crossbow bolt went whizzing by the young nobleman's head, barely missing him. He spun about and saw the shutter was open a mere slit, but that had apparently been enough for an unseen sniper to let loose at him. "I say!" sputtered Alistair, but he at least had the good sense to run straight to the house and press up against the wall where the crossbowman would have a harder time shooting at him. Then, all thoughts of the front doors forgotten, he made his way towards the shuttered window, intending to yank open a shutter and plunge his rapier into the chest of whoever had just tried to kill him.</p><p></p><p>"We know you're out there!" called a voice from the other side of the window. "Pull back and we'll let them live!"</p><p></p><p>"Let us know the farmers are still alive and unharmed!" countered Harlan, taking the lead in the hostage negotiations.</p><p></p><p>"Um, they're drunk! They can't talk!" replied the voice in a fairly obvious lie.</p><p></p><p>"Then bring them outside, so we can verify they live!" countered Harlan. "You have my word as a paladin of Pelor you will come to no harm as you bring the farmers outside."</p><p></p><p>"How about this?" answered the voice, holding a man up to the window. The man had a dark complexion and his head was covered in what looked to be blue bandages, but he was quite obviously alive, for his eyes were open and he looked fearfully out the window at the newcomers on the front lawn. Harlan had been focusing his attention on the window and he caught a glimpse of a hobgoblin behind the fearful man - and quite clearly detected the miasma of evil emanating from the direction of the open window. The paladin began approaching the window, causing the turbaned man to be pulled back and the hobgoblin to call out, "That's not backing away! I said to back away!" Harlan ignored him and walked cautiously to the right corner of the building, past the shuttered window, and peered at the side of the farmhouse facing the stables and shed. He saw drag marks on the ground leading over to the stables, and heard the sounds of tramping feet coming from inside the farmhouse to his left.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum, in the meantime, had crept up to the double doors during the conversation between Harlan and the hobgoblin. She reached up, turned the knob, and when she saw it was unlocked she pulled the door open a crack just enough to look inside. A hobgoblin was coming from a room off to the left towards her - or more accurately, towards the room with the window from which the hobgoblin was repeating his demands that the heroes back away. But Chaevaris had sidled up behind the halfling and saw what she saw - only in the archer's case, it was enough to loose an arrow through the cracked-open front door, almost hitting the hobgoblin within. At the same time, Alistair had reached his limit and yanked open the shutter, stabbing at the hobgoblin within as the turbaned man had been allowed to step back. Neither Chaevaris's arrow nor Alistair's blade hit their targets, but in each case it was a very near miss.</p><p></p><p>Only now it was quite apparent (to both sides) that the fight was on. The hobgoblin leader, <strong>Snagger Bonesnapper</strong>, tromped to the front door, yanked it open, and was astonished to see a halfling woman on the stoop before him. (Ageratum, for her part, was equally surprised to see a hulking hobgoblin suddenly appear before her, and one holding a flaming sword, no less!) Of the two, Ageratum recovered more quickly from her surprise and stabbed out with her masterwork short sword, slicing a gash across Snagger's knee. But then his burning blade came crashing down upon the little halfling, cutting into her shoulder and causing her to fall backwards with a scream upon her lips. By the time she hit the ground she was fast unconscious and bleeding out, the only fortunate thing about the exchange being her leather armor had failed to catch aflame.</p><p></p><p>Harlan, hearing Ageratum's scream, turned back towards the window and charged forward, his longsword piercing the hobgoblin within, slaying him with one blow. Chaevaris fired another arrow, this time hitting Snagger in the chest as he stood just inside the doorway, eliciting a grunt of pain from the burly hobgoblin leader as the archer darted back a step, trying to stay out of reach of his flaming blade. But then Alistair, startled, unconsciously cast an <em>open/close</em> spell that slammed the front door in Snagger's face; the hobgoblin had stepped back in surprise when the door started slamming shut on him despite nobody being in reach to do so. Alistair had no way to lock the door and hadn't even consciously planned on closing it - he'd just wished to keep the brute away from the rest of the group so they could see to Ageratum's wounds. But through the open window, he could see the hobgoblin leader retreating into a back room, even as Ambrose - safely perched in the branch of a tree - sent his master a frenzied warning that there were three more hobgoblins approaching from the back of the stables and shed.</p><p></p><p>Harlan saw the approaching hobgoblins and wheeled to face them, charging forward at the one just now turning the corner of the farmhouse, skewering him on his blade and slaying him instantly. The half-elf barely had enough time to pull his blade out of the dead foe's guts before another hobgoblin was upon him, swinging his longsword at the man of Pelor. But Harlan deflected the blade with his shield, sending the hobgoblin staggering off to the side, off-balance.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, the hobgoblin who had come around the side of the shed came sprinting to Chaevaris, snarling and cursing as he came. And another hobgoblin poked his head out from behind the shed, seeing the fight going on in front of the farmhouse and deciding he wanted part of it. Chaevaris took the time to put an arrow directly between the eyes of a hobgoblin who had opened the front doors again and stepped out, then spun to face the two approaching from behind.</p><p></p><p>"Ogilvy--see to Miss Purslane!" commanded Alistair and the <em>unseen servant</em> grabbed the halfling by her collar and dragged her off to the left, away from the combatants. Ageratum had a <em>potion of cure light wounds</em> at her belt, which Ogilvy popped open and brought to the halfling's parted lips. Then, cradling the back of her neck with his invisible left arm, he gently poured the contents of the healing draught into Ageratum's mouth, the halfling drinking it instinctively. Within moments her eyelids fluttered and she woke up to find herself being cradled like a baby by an invisible force, while 30 or so feet away Chaevaris, Alistair, and Harlan were battling a trio of hobgoblins. Realizing instinctively what had happened, she found herself calling out "Thanks, Ogilvy!" even though she was well aware the <em>unseen servant</em> spell was in no way associated with the spirit of Alistair's childhood servant, other than in the confused mind of the young fop who hadn't even figured out he was a sorcerer yet.</p><p></p><p>Alistair, by this time, had stabbed a hobgoblin deep in the shoulder, then pulled out his blade and - as a force of habit from his fencing class days - asked if the hobgoblin wished to yield. The hobgoblin answered with a snarl of hatred and a stab of his longsword in the nobleman's direction; Alistair handily parried the attack away with his own blade, his other hand held upright behind his head in the manner of which he'd been instructed. Ambrose, in the meantime, spotted Snagger running from behind the house to behind the stables, apparently attempting to flee the scene. He was accompanied by two of his lieutenants, the three having apparently made the decision to abandon the rest of their forces and flee to safety.</p><p></p><p>At the front of the house, the man in the blue turban, <strong>Sarwan Bhao</strong>, turned to another man dressed almost identically but wearing a head-covering of red. "We should get the farmer and his wife to safety," he told <strong>Jawaharala Rami</strong>. "Yes," agreed the man in the red turban, and the two returned to the side room where two unconscious figures lay bound and gagged.</p><p></p><p>Outside, two hobgoblins were approaching Harlan warily, for they had seen the deadliness of the paladin's blade. He further demonstrated his swordsmanship by slicing his blade into the neck of one of his attackers, killing him instantly. Two more hobgoblins approached from beside the shed, gaping as they saw their mate chopped down before them. Ageratum ran towards Harlan, intending to do her part in the fight to free the farmers from these brutes and somewhat embarrassed that she'd been taken out of the battle so quickly. Chaevaris shot an arrow at a hobgoblin and missed, but the brute didn't get a chance to mock the archer because Alistair stabbed him in the belly while his attention was diverted to the elf and he died with his taunts still on his tongue. "I got him, Elfy!" Alistair reassured the archer, but he failed to see his reassurances caused nothing but a sigh of exasperation from the harried elf.</p><p></p><p>Inside, Bhao and Rami each had one of the two owners of the farmhouse balanced on a shoulder, their other hands each holding a scimitar for protection. Having heard Ageratum run past the front doors and realizing there was a battle going on out front, they made their way through the farmhouse to the back door. Then, stepping outside, they started making their way to the west, over towards the stables, following the same path Snagger had taken moments before them.</p><p></p><p>Harlan killed another hobgoblin with a single blow from his longsword, but this time it came at a cost, for the hobgoblin's partner managed to get past the paladin's defenses and stabbed Harlan in the side with his own blade. As Harlan staggered to one knee, Ageratum threw one of her kobold shortspears at the paladin's attacker, missing him but forcing him to concentrate on her instead of following through with his attack upon Harlan.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris, however, alerted to Snagger's attempts to flee, decided that did not sit particularly well and raced past the shed, getting into a position to line up an arrow at the hobgoblin leader when he moved into view from behind the stables. Alistair called Ogilvy back over to "rock dropping duty" and the <em>unseen servant</em> dutifully grabbed up a rock from the ground as it moved into position, as Alistair tried stabbing the hobgoblin who had just brought Harlan to a knee. But while the attack missed, it gave the paladin enough time to force himself back onto his two feet, ignoring the blood oozing down the side of his torso from the stab wound.</p><p></p><p>But now Snagger stumbled into the open, tipping the contents of a potion vial down his throat as he shuffled, not wanting to fall on his face as he ran. His two lieutenants raced forward, oblivious to their leader falling behind them. Chaevaris let loose with the arrow, and it would have been an excellent trick shot if the archer had <em>attempted</em> to shatter the potion vial as Snagger drank down the last of its contents; as it was, the target had been Snagger's horrid face. "The leader's getting away!" Chaevaris called to the others.</p><p></p><p>At that, Alistair spun in place and sprinted away from the farmhouse as fast as he could. At first, Ageratum assumed he was fleeing for his own safety, which rather surprised her (partly because he'd already shown himself willing to put himself in danger, and partly because between them they'd already managed to slay the hobgoblins in the immediate vicinity) - but then she saw him leap into the wagon, snap the reins at the horse harnessed there, and steer the animal between the house and the shed. Ageratum leaped up onto the wagon as it passed by, and Harlan did the same, taking the opportunity to use his last remaining scroll of <em>cure light wounds</em> to heal up the worst of his damage as Alistair steered the horse towards Snagger. The hobgoblin was big and he was strong, but he was also wearing heavy armor and he couldn't outrun a horse, even one pulling a well-laden wagon. Chaevaris fired off another arrow at the hobgoblin leader, once again failing to hit. Elven cursing escaped the archer's lips, angry at having failed in front of the short-lived "children."</p><p></p><p>Alistair did his very best at running down Snagger, but the hobgoblin leader proved to be at least nimble enough to leap aside as the horse came barreling through the spot he's just been occupying. Then, ignoring the wagon (having correctly determined it would take awhile for it to move back into position to where he'd be in any danger), he locked eyes with the dainty-looking elf and charged, <em>flaming burst longsword</em> out and in full flame. However, although it would be a moment before Alistair could bring the wagon to a halt, Harlan leaped off ahead of time and started running back the way they'd just come, following in Snagger's wake. Ageratum followed suit, tossing a kobold shortspear at the hobgoblin and catching him in the back as he ran. And if Chaevaris's two misses in a row had been intended to give Snagger a false sense of security, the stratagem worked perfectly, for Chaevaris did not miss with the third arrow shot in Snagger's direction: it hit the charging hobgoblin straight in the upper chest, puncturing a lung. Snagger roared in fury, surprised to see a spray of blood accompanying his angry outburst.</p><p></p><p>Ogilvy dropped a rock at the leader but it missed, just as Alistair finally got the charging horse to stop and managed to leap out of the wagon himself, starting to run back towards the others (and trusting the winded horse wouldn't pull the heavy wagon anywhere on his own). By now, Snagger had caught up to Chaevaris and was swinging his flaming blade at the archer, but the elf was nimble and easily dodged out of the way. Harlan caught up to Snagger shortly thereafter and uncharacteristically missed with his own attack; up until now he'd been enjoying an almost unqualified success against hobgoblins, most of whom he'd mown down with a single swing of his longsword. But Ageratum caught the burly hobgoblin in the back again with another thrown shortspear, and Snagger was showing signs of being slowly worn down.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris, having backed up out of reach, fired another arrow at Snagger but missed. Ogilvy also missed with his next dropped rock; Alistair, still too far away to do anything physical himself, cast a <em>prestidigitation</em> spell upon Snagger, turning his flesh a sickly, mottled green and brown. "Behold!" he called to the weary hobgoblin. "I, a mighty wizard, have inflicted leprosy upon your foul person!" But Snagger was too busy swinging his flaming sword at the foes surrounding him to pay any attention to any variations in his skin tone - he was fighting for his very life! A sudden lunge and a swing caught Chaevaris on the arm, nearly causing the bow to fall from the archer's grip. But then Harlan channeled the power of Pelor into his sword, bringing it crashing down in a <em>smite evil</em> attack - an attack that, sadly, missed its mark entirely, for Snagger's desperation made him more attuned to danger and he just barely avoided the paladin's empowered blade.</p><p></p><p>Oddly, it was Ageratum who made the killing blow; Snagger, now flanked by Harlan and a very winded Alistair, failed to notice the little halfling creep up and hurl her last shortspear with all of her might until it pierced the back of his neck and extended out of his bloody mouth. With a look of complete surprise on his face, Snagger Bonesnapper fell forward, dead.</p><p></p><p>"I believe I'll be able to put this to better use than you ever did," Harlan told the corpse as he pulled the <em>flaming burst longsword</em> from the dead hobgoblin's grip. "Come on!" he then cried to the others, running to the back of the farmhouse. "We need to see if the farmers are okay!"</p><p></p><p>They met up with the two turbaned men behind the house. "Ah, good, you've rescued them!" sighed Alistair, seeing the bound husband and wife on the shoulders of the dark-skinned men. "Good job, gentlemen!"</p><p></p><p>"You may place them there on the ground before you," Harlan said, pointing to their feet with the point of his new flaming longsword.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, yes, of course," agreed the men, doing as the paladin had indicated. "It is good that none of us has come to any harm."</p><p></p><p>"And who exactly are you?" demanded Harlan. "From your accents, you are not from around here. How did you come to be in the farmhouse with these people?" As he spoke, Ageratum stepped forward and started cutting the ropes binding the unconscious farmers and Chaevaris pulled the bandanas from around their mouths. Alistair wasn't quite sure why Harlan was taking such a firm tone against the two strangers, but then he didn't have the aura-reading training that all paladins received, and as such couldn't tell that the auras of these two men were blacker than even the Thorpes had been.</p><p></p><p>"I am Jawaharala Rami, and this is Sarwan Bhao. We serve our lord, <strong>Jasgund Singh</strong>. As to how we came to be here, this is also a mystery to us. We were walking down a road very familiar to us, and then it became very misty, and then the road was the one leading to this house, with two bands of the creatures you have slain fighting against each other. Great was their battle, with many dead on either side." <em>That would account for all of the blood on the ground in front of the house</em>, though Harlan. But that was assuming Rami was telling him the truth. "Go on," he said.</p><p></p><p>"The side that lost the fight was led by the other leader's brother, it would seem," Rami continued.</p><p></p><p>"<strong>Rumblegut</strong>," added Bhao.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, indeed, this is the name he was called," agreed Rami. "The dead were dragged away to the stables, out of sight."</p><p></p><p>"And you?" pressed Harlan.</p><p></p><p>"We were captured and brought to the room where these two had been bound. We also were bound. Then you arrived and have saved us all."</p><p></p><p>Ageratum had awakened the two farmers by this time. She asked them if they'd ever seen the two turbaned men before, and the married couple shook their heads. "No, the hobgoblins attacked us, tied us up, and almost immediately thereafter another group of hobgoblins showed up and attacked the first bunch. The one who tied us up clonked us on the head before going to fight the other group, I imagine."</p><p></p><p>"Let's go inside," Harlan suggested. Everyone entered the house via the back door, and the couple led the group to the room where they'd been stashed. There was a dead hobgoblin "on display" in the hallway, his head nearly severed from his body and his belly cut open, leaving his intestines spilling out onto the floor. "This is the one they are calling Rumbleguts," Bhao offered. The dead hobgoblin had a jeweled scabbard at his belt, and there was a rather beaten-up scimitar lying by his feet.</p><p></p><p>"And this is the room you were held in?" asked Harlan. The farmer and the wife nodded. "I'm not seeing any ropes where you two were tied up," the paladin said, looking over at Bhao and Rami. He looked at the scimitars the two men held. Rami held a rather beaten-up weapon, but the one Bhao held had fancy jewels embedded on the hilt. "And that looks to be Rumblegut's scimitar," he accused. "It seems to me as if you were likely in cahoots with the hobgoblins, and were perhaps rewarded for your assistance with that rather fancy weapon."</p><p></p><p>"This is not at all what happened," argued Bhao.</p><p></p><p>"Then I think you ought to come back with us to Ghourmand Vale," suggested Harlan. "I'm sure the clerics at the temple of Saint Cuthbert can tell us who's lying."</p><p></p><p>"I thank you for your offer, but our path lies another way," dismissed Bhao, looking shiftily towards his companion.</p><p></p><p>"I say!" exploded Alistair, not appreciating having been lied to by this pair of scoundrels. "You sound like a pair of dishonest bounders!" He pulled the rapier from its scabbard and pointed it at Bhao, who slapped it away with Rumblegut's magic scimitar. "Ogilvy, if you please!" the young nobleman called out, stabbing the point of his blade into Bhao's shoulder. Behind him, acting upon Alistair's barely-thought-out beginnings of a plan, the still-active <em>unseen servant</em> grabbed an invisible handful of intestines from the dead hobgoblin's belly and dragged them, uncoiling as they went, down the hallway to start wrapping them around Bhao's ankles.</p><p></p><p>But Bhao, seeing their jig was up, went immediately on an all-out offensive, slashing his scimitar across Alistair's chest, causing the would-be swordsman hero crashing backwards to hit his head on the floor and pass out. Rami was at his side in an instant, his own scimitar waving menacingly back and forth at the other three heroes. He scowled at the farmer and his wife as they backed down the hallway in fear; Bhao had claimed Rumblegut's scimitar as his own as payment for helping Snagger slay his brother and his ragtag band of hobgoblins, so Rami had insisted the wife would be his and Bhao could make do with the husband; now it looked like neither would be theirs if they couldn't get rid of this interfering band of heroes. Still, they'd already dealt with one, only three more to go....</p><p></p><p>But that proved to be more than the two could handle - especially when Chaevaris put an arrow through the turbaned head of Sarwan Bhao, killing him instantly. Harlan charged at Rami and missed, but then Rami missed at his counterattack against the armored paladin. Chaevaris hit the remaining foe with another arrow but it failed to take him down; it was another blow from Harlan's new <em>flaming burst longsword</em> that finally ended Rami's life.</p><p></p><p>Then, the threat eliminated, Chaevaris surprised everyone by immediately tending to Alistair's wounds. "I thought you didn't particularly like him," Ageratum said.</p><p></p><p>"I don't," Chaevaris agreed, ripping the sleeve from Alistair shirt and tying it tightly around his wound, stopping the bleeding. "He chatters incessantly like a little monkey, generally about things he doesn't fully understand himself."</p><p></p><p>"He's got a healing potion in the pouch at his belt," Ageratum pointed out - she'd bought hers when Alistair bought his, using the money they'd been paid by the Thorpes for fetching their family crest from the tomb of their grandfather.</p><p></p><p>"I'm well aware," added Chaevaris. "But I don't think we'll need it. He can rest comfortably in the back of the wagon. I am quite capable of steering the horse back to Ghourmand Vale. And once we get him there, Brother Scrimshaw or Father Barbados can heal him."</p><p></p><p>"You think he'll be all right?" Ageratum pushed, worried about the foolish fop who she knew quite well had saved her own life earlier by having "Ogilvy" tend to her wound from that flaming sword of Snagger's - now Harlan's.</p><p></p><p>"He'll be fine," Chaevaris reassured her. "And more importantly: he'll be <em>quiet</em>."</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>As expected, we leveled up at the end of this adventure, so we each added a second level of our original class. (I don't think any of us intends to multiclass our PCs for this campaign.) Vick and I both managed to roll a "1" for our hit points, which is a bit of a bummer. But Alistair now has a full-fledged familiar and he's <em>closer</em> to figuring out he's a sorcerer, even if right now he's fairly certain he's just a top-level wizard. I chose <em>acid splash</em> as his new 0-level spell, the first one chosen <em>not</em> based on comfort or laziness.</p><p></p><p>None of us is quite sure what was up with Bhao and Rami - they were apparently <em>teleported</em> from somewhere else across the world (if their story about the mists can be believed), but Dan made a point of name-dropping the lord they work for, so we'll probably be seeing more of their group. But it sounds like they were possibly slavers.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8686775, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 3: WE'RE HERE - NOW WHAT?[/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: 6 July 2022 - - - "Give it here," demanded Father Barbados. Reluctantly, Carlton Thorpe turned over his family crest to the cleric's care. The four heroes had explained to the good Father the events of the previous evening, to include their belief the Von Weisswurst crest had been responsible for the animation of the three kobold zombies and the undead dire weasel they'd been forced to fight off to save the wagon train's sleeping members. "It's perfectly harmless," complained Carlton Thorpe. "I don't know what these four are on about." Harlan had taken Father Barbados aside before they approached the Thorpes' wagon and explained the evil the young paladin had sensed in both Carlton and his sister Maya. Barbados had cast a [I]detect evil[/I] spell of his own and confirmed the paladin's claims, but the Thorpes were part of his wagon train and he'd not send them away after they'd paid for safe passage, the same as any of the others. "Be that as it may," Father Barbados explained, "I'll keep this in me own wagon fer th' time bein'. Once we get t' Ghourmand Vale, I'll be a-wantin' t' have it looked at by a feller I know. I give ye me word ye'll get it back after that." And that was the cleric's last word on the subject; Carlton Thorpe had no real recourse but to take the wagon master at his word. "Very well," he agreed, a sour look upon his face. "See that I do!" "Let's get t' packin' up," suggested Barbados. "It's time we were on our way!" Alistair saw to the loading of the church's wagons, stowing the tents and the cooking utensils they'd used to prepare their brief breakfast. Then he looked down over by the remains of the fire, its embers doused with the leftover water from the cookpot. There, on the ground beside the smoking ashes, stood a dark bird looking up at him. "Oh great," grumbled Alistair. "That blasted crow is back!" "That's not a crow," explained Chaevaris, head shaking in exasperation. "That's a grackle. And its presence here should be no surprise, given it's quite apparent the bird is your familiar." "My what?" demanded Alistair. "Whatever do you mean?" "I'm not sure why you continue to deny it, but you're quite obviously an arcane spellcaster - and that bird is your familiar." "Preposterous!" exploded Alistair. "I'm no wizard! Besides, familiars are black cats - everyone knows that!" The elven archer just sighed dramatically and asked, voice dripping with sarcasm, "And I suppose you got this nugget of wisdom from one of your 'Elfy Danger' books?" "As it happens, yes," admitted the young nobleman. He recalled quite clearly that black cat familiars played an important role in both [I]Elfy and the Wicked Wizard of Witchhaven[/I] and [I]Elfy Fights the One-Eyed Wizard[/I]. "Of course," Chaevaris snorted and turned away, quite apparently no longer interested in having a conversation with such a foolish child. "It's very possible, you know," Ageratum piped in. "Familiars can be more than black cats. I know a wizard associated with the Guild that has an owl as a familiar, and another who has a rat." At that, Alistair frowned in distaste - a rat? Seriously? But now that the seed had been planted in the young nobleman's mind, Alistair found it rapidly taking root. Was it possible? Could it be he was a wizard, after all? It would explain a few things that had happened, like books floating across the room in his father's library when he was too lazy to get up and fetch them. Here he'd assumed it was the spirit of his old servant Ogilvy come back after his death to look after his former charge, but perhaps it had really been him all along! "Well?" Alistair asked the grackle, who still stood there looking up at him. "Are you my familiar?" The grackle, being a bird, did not have a face built for providing much in the way of expressions, but it managed to somehow project an aura of mild exasperation as it took flight and landed upon Alistair's shoulder. "Well then, I suppose I shall have to give you a name," the young man decided. "I shall call you...[B]Ambrose[/B]." Lord Ambrose Pastlethwaite was Alistair's stern father, but it caused the ignorant sorcerer to break into a slight smile at the thought he would at least have [I]one[/I] Ambrose in his life willing to listen to him and actually do what he said. [I]So I'm a wizard[/I], Alistair thought proudly to himself. The concept certainly gave Alistair something to chew on during the rest of the journey to Ghourmand Vale. And the next nine days passed by rather uneventfully, each day blending into the other without much to differentiate them. Chaevaris took point each morning, on the lookout for dangers as the wagon train followed in the elven archer's wake. Harlan stood by, ready to leap into battle against bold bandits or hungry wildlife, but neither put in an appearance - nor were they bothered at night by zombies heading toward the Von Weisswurst crest. Ageratum got better at cooking (and shared some of her secrets and discoveries with Brother Scrimshaw, much to the relief of those eating the meals they prepared) and Alistair took to the role of "wagon lackey" to such an extent Father Barbados often let him sit in the driver's spot and lead the horse pulling the elder cleric's wagon. In this fashion they made their journey and before they knew it had arrived in the boomtown of Ghourmand Vale. "There it be, gentlefolk!" Father Barbados boomed as the town came into view. "Praise be t' Saint Cuthbert fer safe travels t' us all!" Once arriving at their destination, the wagons making up the cross-country caravan each went their separate ways. The elves steered their wagons to the south of the town, for they were a family of delegates of Celene, one of the two bordering kingdoms arguing over which of them owned the land upon which Ghourmand Vale sat - the other being Veluna, to the north. The dwarves continued on to the nearby mountains, heading for the mines to be found there, while the human family reminded the four fledgling heroes of their offer to let them stay at their house until they made other, more permanent, accommodations. Harlan got directions from them and promised to meet up with them later, after they concluded their business with the two clerics of St. Cuthbert. But it was soon after the two church wagons had been driven to the temple of St. Cuthbert and unloaded, and the four hirelings had been paid their wages - a hefty ten pieces of gold each - that a follow-on job landed in their laps almost immediately. [B]Brother Scarborough[/B], the cleric in charge of the temple during Father Barbados's absence, announced the food stocks they relied upon from a nearby farm was overdue in their delivery and food was getting scarce. Not wanting to have to rely upon constant castings of [I]create food and water[/I] for their sustenance, Father Barbados hired the four heroes to go check out the situation at the farm. He gave them directions to the place - a good half-day's travel away - and sent them off with horses and a wagon while he dealt with the Thorpes, who were already wanting to get their family crest back. "I told ye - ye'll get it back after I've 'ad me friend look it over. I'll send word t' him at once; he should be here in no more'n a day or two - three, tops." Harlan noted the church was fairly new and lacked a graveyard, so he felt fairly certain keeping what he believed to be a cursed item in the temple of St. Cuthbert wasn't likely to raise undead in the meantime; he was also glad he no longer had to deal with the Thorpes, whose evil auras filled the half-elf with distrust. "Why are we wasting time with wagons and horses?" asked Alistair. "I'm a wizard: I can just [I]teleport[/I] us to the farmhouse!" "You can, huh?" scoffed Chaevaris. "Using what spellbook?" "Ah...hmmm," muttered Alistair. "I may have discovered a slight flaw in my plan." He had forgotten that wizards needed spellbooks. Well, perhaps [I]commoner[/I] wizards did, but he was of noble birth: it was possible he was just so naturally gifted in the wizardly arts he needed no such crutches! Lifting his arms majestically to his sides, he concentrated on [I]teleporting[/I] the group to the farmhouse Father Barbados had described...and then, well aware of Chaevaris's smirking face, climbed into the driver's seat of the wagon and picked up the reins. Ageratum climbed in beside him, while Harlan and Chaevaris each climbed up into the saddle of a horse. Together, the four headed down the road back the way the caravan had come, only heading south once they got back out of town. They were getting near, if their directions were accurate, when they approached a Y-shaped meeting of three roads: the road the group was traversing, through a heavily-wooded section of forest, split into a fork just ahead, and according to Father Barbados they needed to take the right branch. But the sound of pounding hoofbeats was fast approaching from that direction and Alistair pulled back on the reins of the horse pulling the empty wagon, not wanting to cause a collision. It was good that he did so - and that Chaevaris and Harlan brought their own steeds to a halt beside the wagon - for a slightly larger wagon came barreling down the road, weaving erratically as the two hobgoblins in the front of the vehicle whipped the horses on faster and faster. A third hobgoblin hung on for dear life in the back of the wagon, occasionally repositioning a small crate or barrel as they shifted about. Then, just as the speeding conveyance went barreling past the heroes, the horses took the turn hard and the right rear wagon wheel snapped in half, canting the wagon to one side and throwing the three hobgoblins forward into the dirt. The horses, unable to drag the wagon any further with an axle digging into the ground, came to a well-desired halt, their tongues lolling from their panting mouths. In an instant, Chaevaris lifted an arrow into place and sighted down it, focusing on a target: the left-most hobgoblin, just now picking himself up off the ground. The archer continued sighting down the arrow, lining up the shot perfectly. Not wanting to spoil the elf's concentration, nor do anything to alert the oblivious hobgoblins of their presence, Alistair silently slid the rapier from the scabbard at his belt and prepared himself to stab forward should one of these thieves step forward to attack him, for he could see many of the crates and barrels in the damaged wagon were marked with the holy symbol stamp of Saint Cuthbert. Alistair had no doubt this was the wagon of missing food they'd been sent to procure, and the hobgoblins the reason for the tardiness of its delivery. At his side, Ageratum silently picked up one of the kobold shortspears she'd taken from the den of reptilian raiders over a week ago and likewise readied herself to throw it as soon as Chaevaris let loose with the readied arrow. That, the little halfling decided, would be their signal to attack, and she chose the hobgoblin from the back of the wagon as her target, as he grumbled sourly to himself while inspecting the shattered wagon wheel. Harlan took a moment to examine the auras of the hobgoblins, confirming his suspicions that they reeked of evil - for who would steal food from a farmhouse but those of an evil bent? He slid his masterwork longsword from its sheath as quietly as he could and awaited Chaevaris's attack, while one of the hobgoblins made as if to unharness the right-most horse from the now-useless wagon. Once the shot had been lined up to the archer's satisfaction, a simple release of the bowstring sent the arrow flashing across the distance to bury itself in the left-most hobgoblin's neck, slaying him instantly. Almost immediately thereafter, Alistair called out, "If you please, Ogilvy!" - for even if he [I]was[/I] a wizard and it was him causing the rock to rise up from the ground and hover above the second hobgoblin's head, old habits died hard - and the unconsciously-cast [I]unseen servant[/I] dropped the rock, allowing it to plunk down upon the hobgoblin's head. He snapped his head up, looking to see who had just attacked him in so awkward a manner, and just barely missed being skewered by Ageratum's thrown shortspear, the tip of the weapon whizzing just past his head. But then Harlan dropped from his horse and charged across the road, bringing his blade stabbing into the astonished hobgoblin's chest before he had time to react. That just left one hobgoblin, who leaped up onto the back of the horse he'd just freed and wheeled it around to return back to the farmhouse from which the trio had just left. That turned out to be a dire mistake, for as he rode past the paladin of Pelor, Harlan slashed at him with his blade, slicing open his leg something fierce. Chaevaris brought him down with another arrow, this one piercing the back of his head - and just that quickly, the battle was over, none of the heroes having even received so much as a scratch. "This wagon has no spare wheel!" announced Alistair in indignation upon investigating the downed wagon. As a now fully-trained "wagon lackey," he found the lack of a spare wheel to be quite shocking. So he commanded Ogilvy to start transferring the goods from the broken wagon to the one he had driven from the church of Saint Cuthbert. The [I]unseen servant[/I], being nothing more than a spell effect, gave no indications of exasperation nor did it voice a single word of complaint, two qualities which leant themselves to full appreciation from the unknowing sorcerer. Harlan and Chaevaris stripped the hobgoblins of their weapons, loading them onto the wagon as well. Once the foodstuff had been successfully transferred and tied securely down, and the two horses from the broken wagon secured to the back of the good wagon by their reins, Harlan voiced the opinion they should continue on to the farmhouse to check on the inhabitants, for it was unlikely they handed over their goods to the three hobgoblins without a struggle. Alistair and Ageratum returned to the now-packed wagon, while Harlan and Chaevaris got back on their horses. The paladin led the way, the others following directly behind. The road led directly to the farmhouse and it was quite apparent there had been a fierce combat here recently, for the ground before the building was covered in blood. Alistair brought the wagon to a halt and the two riders dismounted from their horses, tying their reins to a pair of trees while they scoped the place out. There was nobody in sight, neither in front of the farmhouse before them, nor over by the stables or shed off to the right. Alistair decided to take the direct approach, heading towards the middle of the farmhouse, where a pair of double doors looked to be the main entrance to the single-story building. There was another door further off to the left and a shuttered window to the right, and it was from the window that a crossbow bolt went whizzing by the young nobleman's head, barely missing him. He spun about and saw the shutter was open a mere slit, but that had apparently been enough for an unseen sniper to let loose at him. "I say!" sputtered Alistair, but he at least had the good sense to run straight to the house and press up against the wall where the crossbowman would have a harder time shooting at him. Then, all thoughts of the front doors forgotten, he made his way towards the shuttered window, intending to yank open a shutter and plunge his rapier into the chest of whoever had just tried to kill him. "We know you're out there!" called a voice from the other side of the window. "Pull back and we'll let them live!" "Let us know the farmers are still alive and unharmed!" countered Harlan, taking the lead in the hostage negotiations. "Um, they're drunk! They can't talk!" replied the voice in a fairly obvious lie. "Then bring them outside, so we can verify they live!" countered Harlan. "You have my word as a paladin of Pelor you will come to no harm as you bring the farmers outside." "How about this?" answered the voice, holding a man up to the window. The man had a dark complexion and his head was covered in what looked to be blue bandages, but he was quite obviously alive, for his eyes were open and he looked fearfully out the window at the newcomers on the front lawn. Harlan had been focusing his attention on the window and he caught a glimpse of a hobgoblin behind the fearful man - and quite clearly detected the miasma of evil emanating from the direction of the open window. The paladin began approaching the window, causing the turbaned man to be pulled back and the hobgoblin to call out, "That's not backing away! I said to back away!" Harlan ignored him and walked cautiously to the right corner of the building, past the shuttered window, and peered at the side of the farmhouse facing the stables and shed. He saw drag marks on the ground leading over to the stables, and heard the sounds of tramping feet coming from inside the farmhouse to his left. Ageratum, in the meantime, had crept up to the double doors during the conversation between Harlan and the hobgoblin. She reached up, turned the knob, and when she saw it was unlocked she pulled the door open a crack just enough to look inside. A hobgoblin was coming from a room off to the left towards her - or more accurately, towards the room with the window from which the hobgoblin was repeating his demands that the heroes back away. But Chaevaris had sidled up behind the halfling and saw what she saw - only in the archer's case, it was enough to loose an arrow through the cracked-open front door, almost hitting the hobgoblin within. At the same time, Alistair had reached his limit and yanked open the shutter, stabbing at the hobgoblin within as the turbaned man had been allowed to step back. Neither Chaevaris's arrow nor Alistair's blade hit their targets, but in each case it was a very near miss. Only now it was quite apparent (to both sides) that the fight was on. The hobgoblin leader, [B]Snagger Bonesnapper[/B], tromped to the front door, yanked it open, and was astonished to see a halfling woman on the stoop before him. (Ageratum, for her part, was equally surprised to see a hulking hobgoblin suddenly appear before her, and one holding a flaming sword, no less!) Of the two, Ageratum recovered more quickly from her surprise and stabbed out with her masterwork short sword, slicing a gash across Snagger's knee. But then his burning blade came crashing down upon the little halfling, cutting into her shoulder and causing her to fall backwards with a scream upon her lips. By the time she hit the ground she was fast unconscious and bleeding out, the only fortunate thing about the exchange being her leather armor had failed to catch aflame. Harlan, hearing Ageratum's scream, turned back towards the window and charged forward, his longsword piercing the hobgoblin within, slaying him with one blow. Chaevaris fired another arrow, this time hitting Snagger in the chest as he stood just inside the doorway, eliciting a grunt of pain from the burly hobgoblin leader as the archer darted back a step, trying to stay out of reach of his flaming blade. But then Alistair, startled, unconsciously cast an [I]open/close[/I] spell that slammed the front door in Snagger's face; the hobgoblin had stepped back in surprise when the door started slamming shut on him despite nobody being in reach to do so. Alistair had no way to lock the door and hadn't even consciously planned on closing it - he'd just wished to keep the brute away from the rest of the group so they could see to Ageratum's wounds. But through the open window, he could see the hobgoblin leader retreating into a back room, even as Ambrose - safely perched in the branch of a tree - sent his master a frenzied warning that there were three more hobgoblins approaching from the back of the stables and shed. Harlan saw the approaching hobgoblins and wheeled to face them, charging forward at the one just now turning the corner of the farmhouse, skewering him on his blade and slaying him instantly. The half-elf barely had enough time to pull his blade out of the dead foe's guts before another hobgoblin was upon him, swinging his longsword at the man of Pelor. But Harlan deflected the blade with his shield, sending the hobgoblin staggering off to the side, off-balance. At the same time, the hobgoblin who had come around the side of the shed came sprinting to Chaevaris, snarling and cursing as he came. And another hobgoblin poked his head out from behind the shed, seeing the fight going on in front of the farmhouse and deciding he wanted part of it. Chaevaris took the time to put an arrow directly between the eyes of a hobgoblin who had opened the front doors again and stepped out, then spun to face the two approaching from behind. "Ogilvy--see to Miss Purslane!" commanded Alistair and the [I]unseen servant[/I] grabbed the halfling by her collar and dragged her off to the left, away from the combatants. Ageratum had a [I]potion of cure light wounds[/I] at her belt, which Ogilvy popped open and brought to the halfling's parted lips. Then, cradling the back of her neck with his invisible left arm, he gently poured the contents of the healing draught into Ageratum's mouth, the halfling drinking it instinctively. Within moments her eyelids fluttered and she woke up to find herself being cradled like a baby by an invisible force, while 30 or so feet away Chaevaris, Alistair, and Harlan were battling a trio of hobgoblins. Realizing instinctively what had happened, she found herself calling out "Thanks, Ogilvy!" even though she was well aware the [I]unseen servant[/I] spell was in no way associated with the spirit of Alistair's childhood servant, other than in the confused mind of the young fop who hadn't even figured out he was a sorcerer yet. Alistair, by this time, had stabbed a hobgoblin deep in the shoulder, then pulled out his blade and - as a force of habit from his fencing class days - asked if the hobgoblin wished to yield. The hobgoblin answered with a snarl of hatred and a stab of his longsword in the nobleman's direction; Alistair handily parried the attack away with his own blade, his other hand held upright behind his head in the manner of which he'd been instructed. Ambrose, in the meantime, spotted Snagger running from behind the house to behind the stables, apparently attempting to flee the scene. He was accompanied by two of his lieutenants, the three having apparently made the decision to abandon the rest of their forces and flee to safety. At the front of the house, the man in the blue turban, [B]Sarwan Bhao[/B], turned to another man dressed almost identically but wearing a head-covering of red. "We should get the farmer and his wife to safety," he told [B]Jawaharala Rami[/B]. "Yes," agreed the man in the red turban, and the two returned to the side room where two unconscious figures lay bound and gagged. Outside, two hobgoblins were approaching Harlan warily, for they had seen the deadliness of the paladin's blade. He further demonstrated his swordsmanship by slicing his blade into the neck of one of his attackers, killing him instantly. Two more hobgoblins approached from beside the shed, gaping as they saw their mate chopped down before them. Ageratum ran towards Harlan, intending to do her part in the fight to free the farmers from these brutes and somewhat embarrassed that she'd been taken out of the battle so quickly. Chaevaris shot an arrow at a hobgoblin and missed, but the brute didn't get a chance to mock the archer because Alistair stabbed him in the belly while his attention was diverted to the elf and he died with his taunts still on his tongue. "I got him, Elfy!" Alistair reassured the archer, but he failed to see his reassurances caused nothing but a sigh of exasperation from the harried elf. Inside, Bhao and Rami each had one of the two owners of the farmhouse balanced on a shoulder, their other hands each holding a scimitar for protection. Having heard Ageratum run past the front doors and realizing there was a battle going on out front, they made their way through the farmhouse to the back door. Then, stepping outside, they started making their way to the west, over towards the stables, following the same path Snagger had taken moments before them. Harlan killed another hobgoblin with a single blow from his longsword, but this time it came at a cost, for the hobgoblin's partner managed to get past the paladin's defenses and stabbed Harlan in the side with his own blade. As Harlan staggered to one knee, Ageratum threw one of her kobold shortspears at the paladin's attacker, missing him but forcing him to concentrate on her instead of following through with his attack upon Harlan. Chaevaris, however, alerted to Snagger's attempts to flee, decided that did not sit particularly well and raced past the shed, getting into a position to line up an arrow at the hobgoblin leader when he moved into view from behind the stables. Alistair called Ogilvy back over to "rock dropping duty" and the [I]unseen servant[/I] dutifully grabbed up a rock from the ground as it moved into position, as Alistair tried stabbing the hobgoblin who had just brought Harlan to a knee. But while the attack missed, it gave the paladin enough time to force himself back onto his two feet, ignoring the blood oozing down the side of his torso from the stab wound. But now Snagger stumbled into the open, tipping the contents of a potion vial down his throat as he shuffled, not wanting to fall on his face as he ran. His two lieutenants raced forward, oblivious to their leader falling behind them. Chaevaris let loose with the arrow, and it would have been an excellent trick shot if the archer had [I]attempted[/I] to shatter the potion vial as Snagger drank down the last of its contents; as it was, the target had been Snagger's horrid face. "The leader's getting away!" Chaevaris called to the others. At that, Alistair spun in place and sprinted away from the farmhouse as fast as he could. At first, Ageratum assumed he was fleeing for his own safety, which rather surprised her (partly because he'd already shown himself willing to put himself in danger, and partly because between them they'd already managed to slay the hobgoblins in the immediate vicinity) - but then she saw him leap into the wagon, snap the reins at the horse harnessed there, and steer the animal between the house and the shed. Ageratum leaped up onto the wagon as it passed by, and Harlan did the same, taking the opportunity to use his last remaining scroll of [I]cure light wounds[/I] to heal up the worst of his damage as Alistair steered the horse towards Snagger. The hobgoblin was big and he was strong, but he was also wearing heavy armor and he couldn't outrun a horse, even one pulling a well-laden wagon. Chaevaris fired off another arrow at the hobgoblin leader, once again failing to hit. Elven cursing escaped the archer's lips, angry at having failed in front of the short-lived "children." Alistair did his very best at running down Snagger, but the hobgoblin leader proved to be at least nimble enough to leap aside as the horse came barreling through the spot he's just been occupying. Then, ignoring the wagon (having correctly determined it would take awhile for it to move back into position to where he'd be in any danger), he locked eyes with the dainty-looking elf and charged, [I]flaming burst longsword[/I] out and in full flame. However, although it would be a moment before Alistair could bring the wagon to a halt, Harlan leaped off ahead of time and started running back the way they'd just come, following in Snagger's wake. Ageratum followed suit, tossing a kobold shortspear at the hobgoblin and catching him in the back as he ran. And if Chaevaris's two misses in a row had been intended to give Snagger a false sense of security, the stratagem worked perfectly, for Chaevaris did not miss with the third arrow shot in Snagger's direction: it hit the charging hobgoblin straight in the upper chest, puncturing a lung. Snagger roared in fury, surprised to see a spray of blood accompanying his angry outburst. Ogilvy dropped a rock at the leader but it missed, just as Alistair finally got the charging horse to stop and managed to leap out of the wagon himself, starting to run back towards the others (and trusting the winded horse wouldn't pull the heavy wagon anywhere on his own). By now, Snagger had caught up to Chaevaris and was swinging his flaming blade at the archer, but the elf was nimble and easily dodged out of the way. Harlan caught up to Snagger shortly thereafter and uncharacteristically missed with his own attack; up until now he'd been enjoying an almost unqualified success against hobgoblins, most of whom he'd mown down with a single swing of his longsword. But Ageratum caught the burly hobgoblin in the back again with another thrown shortspear, and Snagger was showing signs of being slowly worn down. Chaevaris, having backed up out of reach, fired another arrow at Snagger but missed. Ogilvy also missed with his next dropped rock; Alistair, still too far away to do anything physical himself, cast a [I]prestidigitation[/I] spell upon Snagger, turning his flesh a sickly, mottled green and brown. "Behold!" he called to the weary hobgoblin. "I, a mighty wizard, have inflicted leprosy upon your foul person!" But Snagger was too busy swinging his flaming sword at the foes surrounding him to pay any attention to any variations in his skin tone - he was fighting for his very life! A sudden lunge and a swing caught Chaevaris on the arm, nearly causing the bow to fall from the archer's grip. But then Harlan channeled the power of Pelor into his sword, bringing it crashing down in a [I]smite evil[/I] attack - an attack that, sadly, missed its mark entirely, for Snagger's desperation made him more attuned to danger and he just barely avoided the paladin's empowered blade. Oddly, it was Ageratum who made the killing blow; Snagger, now flanked by Harlan and a very winded Alistair, failed to notice the little halfling creep up and hurl her last shortspear with all of her might until it pierced the back of his neck and extended out of his bloody mouth. With a look of complete surprise on his face, Snagger Bonesnapper fell forward, dead. "I believe I'll be able to put this to better use than you ever did," Harlan told the corpse as he pulled the [I]flaming burst longsword[/I] from the dead hobgoblin's grip. "Come on!" he then cried to the others, running to the back of the farmhouse. "We need to see if the farmers are okay!" They met up with the two turbaned men behind the house. "Ah, good, you've rescued them!" sighed Alistair, seeing the bound husband and wife on the shoulders of the dark-skinned men. "Good job, gentlemen!" "You may place them there on the ground before you," Harlan said, pointing to their feet with the point of his new flaming longsword. "Yes, yes, of course," agreed the men, doing as the paladin had indicated. "It is good that none of us has come to any harm." "And who exactly are you?" demanded Harlan. "From your accents, you are not from around here. How did you come to be in the farmhouse with these people?" As he spoke, Ageratum stepped forward and started cutting the ropes binding the unconscious farmers and Chaevaris pulled the bandanas from around their mouths. Alistair wasn't quite sure why Harlan was taking such a firm tone against the two strangers, but then he didn't have the aura-reading training that all paladins received, and as such couldn't tell that the auras of these two men were blacker than even the Thorpes had been. "I am Jawaharala Rami, and this is Sarwan Bhao. We serve our lord, [B]Jasgund Singh[/B]. As to how we came to be here, this is also a mystery to us. We were walking down a road very familiar to us, and then it became very misty, and then the road was the one leading to this house, with two bands of the creatures you have slain fighting against each other. Great was their battle, with many dead on either side." [I]That would account for all of the blood on the ground in front of the house[/I], though Harlan. But that was assuming Rami was telling him the truth. "Go on," he said. "The side that lost the fight was led by the other leader's brother, it would seem," Rami continued. "[B]Rumblegut[/B]," added Bhao. "Yes, indeed, this is the name he was called," agreed Rami. "The dead were dragged away to the stables, out of sight." "And you?" pressed Harlan. "We were captured and brought to the room where these two had been bound. We also were bound. Then you arrived and have saved us all." Ageratum had awakened the two farmers by this time. She asked them if they'd ever seen the two turbaned men before, and the married couple shook their heads. "No, the hobgoblins attacked us, tied us up, and almost immediately thereafter another group of hobgoblins showed up and attacked the first bunch. The one who tied us up clonked us on the head before going to fight the other group, I imagine." "Let's go inside," Harlan suggested. Everyone entered the house via the back door, and the couple led the group to the room where they'd been stashed. There was a dead hobgoblin "on display" in the hallway, his head nearly severed from his body and his belly cut open, leaving his intestines spilling out onto the floor. "This is the one they are calling Rumbleguts," Bhao offered. The dead hobgoblin had a jeweled scabbard at his belt, and there was a rather beaten-up scimitar lying by his feet. "And this is the room you were held in?" asked Harlan. The farmer and the wife nodded. "I'm not seeing any ropes where you two were tied up," the paladin said, looking over at Bhao and Rami. He looked at the scimitars the two men held. Rami held a rather beaten-up weapon, but the one Bhao held had fancy jewels embedded on the hilt. "And that looks to be Rumblegut's scimitar," he accused. "It seems to me as if you were likely in cahoots with the hobgoblins, and were perhaps rewarded for your assistance with that rather fancy weapon." "This is not at all what happened," argued Bhao. "Then I think you ought to come back with us to Ghourmand Vale," suggested Harlan. "I'm sure the clerics at the temple of Saint Cuthbert can tell us who's lying." "I thank you for your offer, but our path lies another way," dismissed Bhao, looking shiftily towards his companion. "I say!" exploded Alistair, not appreciating having been lied to by this pair of scoundrels. "You sound like a pair of dishonest bounders!" He pulled the rapier from its scabbard and pointed it at Bhao, who slapped it away with Rumblegut's magic scimitar. "Ogilvy, if you please!" the young nobleman called out, stabbing the point of his blade into Bhao's shoulder. Behind him, acting upon Alistair's barely-thought-out beginnings of a plan, the still-active [I]unseen servant[/I] grabbed an invisible handful of intestines from the dead hobgoblin's belly and dragged them, uncoiling as they went, down the hallway to start wrapping them around Bhao's ankles. But Bhao, seeing their jig was up, went immediately on an all-out offensive, slashing his scimitar across Alistair's chest, causing the would-be swordsman hero crashing backwards to hit his head on the floor and pass out. Rami was at his side in an instant, his own scimitar waving menacingly back and forth at the other three heroes. He scowled at the farmer and his wife as they backed down the hallway in fear; Bhao had claimed Rumblegut's scimitar as his own as payment for helping Snagger slay his brother and his ragtag band of hobgoblins, so Rami had insisted the wife would be his and Bhao could make do with the husband; now it looked like neither would be theirs if they couldn't get rid of this interfering band of heroes. Still, they'd already dealt with one, only three more to go.... But that proved to be more than the two could handle - especially when Chaevaris put an arrow through the turbaned head of Sarwan Bhao, killing him instantly. Harlan charged at Rami and missed, but then Rami missed at his counterattack against the armored paladin. Chaevaris hit the remaining foe with another arrow but it failed to take him down; it was another blow from Harlan's new [I]flaming burst longsword[/I] that finally ended Rami's life. Then, the threat eliminated, Chaevaris surprised everyone by immediately tending to Alistair's wounds. "I thought you didn't particularly like him," Ageratum said. "I don't," Chaevaris agreed, ripping the sleeve from Alistair shirt and tying it tightly around his wound, stopping the bleeding. "He chatters incessantly like a little monkey, generally about things he doesn't fully understand himself." "He's got a healing potion in the pouch at his belt," Ageratum pointed out - she'd bought hers when Alistair bought his, using the money they'd been paid by the Thorpes for fetching their family crest from the tomb of their grandfather. "I'm well aware," added Chaevaris. "But I don't think we'll need it. He can rest comfortably in the back of the wagon. I am quite capable of steering the horse back to Ghourmand Vale. And once we get him there, Brother Scrimshaw or Father Barbados can heal him." "You think he'll be all right?" Ageratum pushed, worried about the foolish fop who she knew quite well had saved her own life earlier by having "Ogilvy" tend to her wound from that flaming sword of Snagger's - now Harlan's. "He'll be fine," Chaevaris reassured her. "And more importantly: he'll be [I]quiet[/I]." - - - As expected, we leveled up at the end of this adventure, so we each added a second level of our original class. (I don't think any of us intends to multiclass our PCs for this campaign.) Vick and I both managed to roll a "1" for our hit points, which is a bit of a bummer. But Alistair now has a full-fledged familiar and he's [I]closer[/I] to figuring out he's a sorcerer, even if right now he's fairly certain he's just a top-level wizard. I chose [I]acid splash[/I] as his new 0-level spell, the first one chosen [I]not[/I] based on comfort or laziness. None of us is quite sure what was up with Bhao and Rami - they were apparently [I]teleported[/I] from somewhere else across the world (if their story about the mists can be believed), but Dan made a point of name-dropping the lord they work for, so we'll probably be seeing more of their group. But it sounds like they were possibly slavers. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
Top