Adventurers Present
Bilbo - hobbit
Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric
Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard
SMASH - dwarfley life cleric
Some adventures are about discovering unexplored territory and solving mysteries. Some are about managing combat and defeating the enemy. And some, like today’s endeavor, are about cleaning up the mess and trudging home. This session’s play was the story of getting the survivors and their spoils safely back from the caverns of Quasqueton to their home base in Brambleham.
In an arduous three-day journey, the (reduced) party of adventurers pushed themselves to the limits by force-marching along the river banks of the dread forest surrounding Quasqueton. Complicating and aggravating this task was the potentially pyrrhic desire to transport back the larger and bulkier items of value the group had recovered in the dungeon. Still, the group was dead set upon making the attempt. Implementing the plans from the day before, the four adventurers loaded up their outsized valuables into one of Quasqueton’s mine carts and headed back toward civilization. Remembering and heeding the warnings they’d received long ago in Brambleham, they resolved not to be caught out in the open forest when night descended and the evil denizens of the deep woods came out to hunt. Thus, three dwarves and a hobbit strained mightily to push the heaping cart along the stony shores of the river, while still reaching their sheltering way-stations along the path home: the Kaves of Korsso, Franklin’s Tower, and their ultimate destination of Brambleham. The problem lay in that those three havens were each spaced a full-day’s march from each other along the forested river, while travelling with a weighty cart of treasures does not make for a regular day’s march! Thus, only a seriously forced march would accomplish the group’s dual goals of keeping their treasure, and still reaching safety each night at the only obvious shelters.
The first day’s journey went relatively uneventfully, with the only encounter being a single (highly delusional) goblin bandit. From the relative safety of a bushy thicket, the goblin promised to let the heroes walk on unmolested once they abandoned their treasure. Predictably declining this offer, the party prepared for combat. The nimble goblin stole the initiative and shot Bilbo with an arrow, then skittered away and hid before the retaliatory fire and steel could end his thieving goblin life. Rather than waste additional time and resources upon the nefarious nuisance, the party lumbered on. It wasn’t long before the true difficulty of this weighed-down walk revealed itself: every couple hours brought the possibility of an additional level of exhaustion for each of the struggling stevedores. Mossmullet, child of Varga, began an unending muttering of prayers for endurance to his patron goddess, and was rewarded with the Enhanced Fortitude to bear his share of the burden with uncommon ability. The other members of the party didn’t fare so well. Although the Kaves of Korsso finally appeared as the sun departed the sky, hobbit Bilbo’s endurance gave out before they’d reached that destination. He finished the final leg of the day’s journey riding in the back of the cart as the others pushed on.
The weary adventurers spent that night getting reacquainted with the lost Sleestak Korso, breaking bread and sharing (stinky) sleeping quarters with him in his sheltered cave. Rising refreshed and ready, they briefly explored the rest of the Kaves (finding nothing of interest) before setting out for the second leg of their return journey. The second day of pushing the cart was even less eventful than the first day, but again their true enemy was exhaustion: by the time the burdened bunch reached Franklin’s Tower, Bilbo, Smash and Orsek were all cart-bound with multiple levels of enervating exhaustion. Only Mossmullet, filled with the divine fervor and Fortitude of the Queen of Winter, was able to bear up for the second full day of toilsome treasure-hauling.
Franklin’s Tower offered the group both a good night’s sleep on the first beds anyone had enjoyed in many a day, as well as a couple of previously-missed valuables! Mossmullet located the magical puppet Charlee, and claimed it as his own. Orsek recovered Franklin’s old walking staff. And I do mean old: the staff revealed itself to have been carved over 400 years ago! And by revealed, I mean “said”. As in, immediately after being grasped by wizard Orsek, the staff started actually talking! The obviously magical walking staff stated that it was carved from the same branch as some other wand (hmmm, maybe it can tell us more?), that it liked going on walk-abouts (maybe it knows the area we’re in better than we do?), and drinking pina coladas. OK, I made that last one up. The staff actually assured the group that it had no need for food or sleep (might it make a good watch-dog for a sleeping mage?). Anyhow, after stowing the treasures from the cart in the Tower’s cloakroom, the over-tired party sacked out.
Before leaving the Tower for the third day’s journey, the group visited the gooey oracle-thing in the Tower’s cellar. This was the knowledge they gained:
- White Plume Mountain is an active volcano
- The monster in the bubbles is a giant crab of some sort
- The trap at the end may involve a frying pan, and kills by drowning
- The trap is triggered by randomly, by foolishness
- There are three weapons in White Plume Mountain: a sword, a hammer, and an artifact
- The “Yaga” is a crone who has alchemy
Day three of pushing the cart home brought about some far more serious adventure, but not before the group had already succumbed to the wearying price for their monumental journey of greed: both Bilbo and Smash were too tired to trudge on and full speed and were riding the cart as Orsek and muttering Mossmullet pushed on. That was when the watchful hobbit spied what appeared to be an alligator cutting through the waters of the river directly toward them. The group prepared for battle as two other gator-heads broke the surface. The party was then slightly shocked and alarmed when one of those heads suddenly reared up upon a long, sinuous neck! Not alligators at all! Still, the seasoned adventurers kept their heads and launched a first-strike as the monsters swam up. Mossmullet fumbled off an ill-advised and ineffectual Bane spell, but Orsek electrocuted all three with a well-chosen orb of Chromatic lightning, Smash blasted one with a Guiding Bolt, and Bilbo fired off an arrow. Then came the big reveal: the party faced not three creatures, but only one hydra! It was game on, with the hydra heads biting and seriously injuring Smash and Orsek in revenge. But the party triumphed in the end when Bilbo splashed oil upon the beast, Smash delivered another powerful Bolt, Mossmullet Thunderwaved a couple of the hydras heads to sleep, and Orsek unleashed a Burning Hands which both fried the remaining head and lit the monster on fire. Hooray! Party 1, monsters 0.
As the exhausted bunch finally came so close to Brambleham they could almost taste the pork, the price of their earlier unwillingness to secure their flanks came home to roost: the persistent and larcenous goblin had tracked them down, and brought along a friend! The two brave (foolhardy) goblins positioned themselves between the adventures and their goal of Brambleham, and this time they were ready to fight! And low, what a fight it was. This pack of seasoned warriors - mighty mages and powerful priests aided by their faithful hobbit friend - had as much difficulty slaying these two goblins than they had the hydra. The long-drawn-out combat went three full rounds. Chromatic Orbs were hurled and missed. Varga’s Winter’s Chill touched one goblin, who merely shook it off. Arrows and maces bounced fecklessly off goblin armor. The hamster god’s Commands were heeded and slowed down the goblin assault, but still left the creatures fit for fighting. And goblin arrows bit dwarf flesh. Still, at some point the gods of probability caught up to the outnumbered and outgunned goblins, and they lost their gambit for the group’s goods: one succumbed to one of Orsek’s Orbs of explosive fire, and the other’s skull crumpled under a dwarfley mace. The fight, and the long, long journey home, were finally finished. The worn explorers stumbled on to Brambleham, decisively pushing the cartful of fortunes to their destination, with new adventures (and enhanced wealth) waiting to be explored another day.
Combat: 231 each
Exploration: 5 each
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