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27 Ready'Reat, 580 CY, Adri Wood
Night of the 27th
The New Plan: We're going to attack the slaver camp. The (original) plan was pretty rough, so we refined it. A small group would use the underground stream to get to the well in the center of town. This group would secure the gates and open them for the rest of us. This plan was agreed upon after Oliver suggested that a large group couldn't stay hidden forever and a small group would have a better chance.We think Tasos might be dead and want to take advantage of any confusion that we sowed in our previous attack. We rested up so Cedric could patch us up in fine fashion.
DM: Ryvvik's player had to miss this day so I took him out of the encounter.
28 Ready'Reat, 580 CY, Adri Wood
More healing and Adamane left to gather up his ranger allies. Ryvvik made some excuse about Voliker needing him and went on his way. Everyone else kept busy discussing "the plan" and arguing over approaches. Oliver whittled wood, Isaac checked his arrows and bow, Galen kept trying out new songs and Darcius communed with nature by sleeping on a bed of pine boughs. Cedric meditated and prayed for most of the day. Thus another day was wasted in fine fashion.
1 Sunsebb, 580 CY, Adri Wood
We decided that it would be in our best interest to scout out our approach to the camp so we set off early in the morning to the mouth of the stream. We hoped the passage wasn't blocked or too small for us to get through armed and armored. After tramping through the woods we got to the outlet, a small fount coming from underneath a large rock outcrop. Isaac volunteered to go through first to find out how far we'd have to crawl through the cold water. He crawled forward on hands and knees for ten minutes until the ceiling raised high enough for him to crouch. He located a dry spot where he could light a small fire with the wood he carried in on his back and returned quickly back to the river entrance. Upon his return, he gathered Darcius, Galen and Cedric and headed into the darkness again. Oliver stayed on the surface to ensure we weren't surprised by anything outside.
Once everyone got far enough in, and a dry ledge was located, the party made good progress. That is, until a large water snake tried to make a lunch of Isaac. It lunged out of the dark, latched onto his arm, and tried to pull him into it's coils, and the freezing cold water. The fight dragged on until Isaac finally managed to land a telling dagger strike They left the corpse on the side and continued on.
DM: I think I kinda goofed, putting a water snake in freezing cold water, I don't think reptiles are very active in cold water, then again there are snakes that live in the sea and it can get pretty cold there. Anyone know more about this, or was this some kinda "Magic" water snake.
After arriving at the well opening, which opened up in the roof, they were disheartened to find it stretched a full fifty feet straight up. They returned to the opening a mile away, dragging a big snake corpse.
We returned to the camp that night and Cedric bound Isaac's cracked ribs and we planned our assault for the next day. Adamane arrived with four other rangers: Angele, a druid/ranger; Mik, a farmer turned ranger; Tomas, a woodsman/ranger; Ragan, an older man (relatively) who had recently "found his calling" as a ranger. Oliver was informed that all these people were competitors for the legacy of Adamane, but he was nonplused, only wary. We had snake steaks for dinner and skinned the beast to make boots out of it. We joked that we would gain strength from the bodies of our enemies.
2 Sunsebb, 580 CY, Adri Wood, near slaver encampment
We built a ladder during the day and knotted a rope for climbing and prepared for our assault. Adamane and Cedric cast many spells to prepare us for our immersion in the cold water.
We proceeded to the well opening, put up a ladder and set a grappling hook on the edge of the well using Galen's magic. Isaac went first, followed by Darcius, Galen, Cedric, Angele and Oliver. Adamane and the rest of his men waited outside the gates for us to open them. Oliver circled around the side of the tavern and silently made for a guard tower while Isaac and Angele covered Galen in his attempt to put the gate guards to sleep. The plan was working to perfection, Galen put more than half the guards to sleep and the ones that weren't knocked out were quickly engaged by Cedric and Darcius. Oliver made short work of his opponents. At this point, someone managed to raise an alarm and men boiled out of the tavern. Largely inexperienced warriors, Isaac rained arrows into them from his hiding place. Angele chose that moment to cast a spell that animated the grass and roots inside the compound and had them grab everyone on the ground. Some areas were unaffected and they became hard won spots of sanctuary. DM: Some of the party gave Angele's Player grief for casting as spell that caught them at the edge of it. First of all let me say that I think Angele's player did the proper thing but just pointing to a place on the map to center the spell rather than counting hexes and using some other info that Angele didn't know. Second let me say that not all the warriors cought were "inexperinced" and by holding off so many warriors even for only a moment, Angele reduced the number of attackers that the front gate had to deal with, and made the job there much easier. IMHOAnother group of slavers burst forth from the "special" guest quarters and Oliver put an arrow into one of them, dropping him instantly. About the same time, a man stepped forth onto the second floor balcony of the tavern. He seemed fairly average at first, though grossly overweight. He was attired in black from his glossy boots, satiny robe, black gloves and black cape over it all. His powdered white face and shaved head proved a sharp contrast and at first glance made him look like a grossly overweight skeleton.
Adamane and his rangers charged through the opened gate and right into the effects of the spell Angele had laid down. Their charge was effectively quashed by the plants and the battle's momentum swung back and forth, with Isaac and Angele firing arrows into the trapped enemy. (See DM comment above) The man in black surveyed all this and raised a hand in Angele's direction. His eyes glowed red and Angele felt a paralyzing fear sweep over her and her heart quailed in fear. She bolted off into the dark, searching for a place of safety. Isaac, mowing down our enemies, became the second focus of the black robed man. He raised both hands and a whirling cloud of bone shards coalesced around them and shot down unerringly at Isaac, who dove for cover. It was for naught and his body jerked as the shards impacted and he passed out.
DM: I enjoy making magical effects unique to different spellcasters, even when they are casting common spells like fear or magic missle. It gives the NPC a different flair and keeps the party guessing as to what spells they are really seeing.
Darcius and Cedric continued to battle slavers by the front gate and managed to free themselves from the effects of the entangling roots. They engaged the force that escaped from the 'special' guest quarters. When battle was joined Cedric realized that the majority of these slavers were actually clerics and acolytes of Erythnul, the god of slaughter. Fired by this revelation, Cedric invoked the name of St. Cuthbert and redoubled his efforts. Darcius' axe was singing this night and many fell before his terrible onslaught. Galen was up in the gate towers, removing the sleeping slavers from the equation with his mace and encouraged all of us with his stirring songs of valor and battle. No one was in any position to help Isaac, who's life was seeping out of him.
Oliver, realizing that the battle would hinge on the spell caster in black tried to make a five foot jump from the guard tower to the roof of the tavern but misjudged and dropped heavily to the ground.DM: And the complaining of his player could be heard high and low… I even gave him a bonus due to height advantage, the player missed the roll, and a missed roll is a missed roll. In retrospect the rules for the jump skill may be a bit too restricitve, if any of you have a suggestion to improve it (even to say it doesn't need improvement) email me. Yeah yeah, I'm the whiney baby. His ankle was turned but he was not to be stopped. Taking his sword in hand, he tore the shutters off the back window of the tavern and moved through the window and up the stairs to the second floor. He almost blundered headlong into an ambush by three slavers protecting the back of the spellcaster, but caught himself just in time. He defended himself against the three men who called out to the spell caster, "Pervost, we have company."
Pervost was watching the battle, surveying the carnage, so he only cast a desultory fear spell at Oliver who gritted his teeth and managed to shrug off the worst effects. Adamane gave up trying to free himself from the entanglement and began firing his mighty bow, slaying many. Cedric battled valiantly with the followers of the evil god and had to quickly defend himself against the magically summoned hawk of the leader of the acolytes. The hawk was dispatched by an inspired blow and Cedric moved into direct combat with the leader of the evil clerics. Darcius covered his back with the help of Tomas and the acolytes were felled one by one.
Oliver battled steadily and cautiously with the thugs protecting Pervost and finally slew the last of them. He began taunting the spell caster which eventually proved useless as Pervost took more notice of him and fired off more spells, which were also fought off with grit and determination. Seeing that his men were being slaughtered, Pervost intoned a spell and levitated off the roof and over the center of the compound. He saw Adamane for the first time and became irate, screaming, "So, the great Adamane is behind this is he? So be it. Your people and all rangers will rue the day you interfered in my affairs."
Pervost conjured a crackling black lightning bolt that smashed through Adamane, Ragan and the support pillar for the tower Galen was standing in. Ragan was reduced a fine, red mist. Adamane stood through it all and simply raised his bow in response, firing an arrow through the seemingly impenetrable shield (up to this moment anyway). Pervost's magical shields had held back all our attacks until now and he seemed surprised when Adamane's arrow thudded deep into his midsection. Pervost chanted quickly and disappeared in a puff of stinking green smoke.
Cedric finished his battle with the Erythnulian, who sensed the battle was over and disappeared as well. We tracked the priest's spoor to the north wall and it disappeared into the night. Cedric advocated a search party but no one else seemed very interested in the idea. The slaves in the compound were freed and we licked our wounds. Isaac was made comfortable, and Cedric used his increasingly powerful healing magic from St. Cuthbert to stabilize him. Isaac had been mortally wounded and had almost bled to death in the meantime. Oliver was being hounded by a group of humming black blades that had been conjured by Pervost in the moment of his disappearance, and had to hide in the tavern until the spell had run it's course. Cedric and Galen tended to the more dire cases of mistreated slaves and Darcius took a look around the battlefield for any loot we could use. Adamane surveyed the slaves and got enough information to send them all back to their respective homes.
