Session 3: Into the Mountains (29th August 2012 )
The cast of heroes
Arken (Half-Elf Cleric) – leader of the party
Bardan (Human Fighter) – the muscleKnil (Elf Ranger) – the tracker
Korum Proudfoot (Halfling Thief) – the scout
Rioja Hyrule (Human Mage) – the wizard (on holiday)
Kima (Black Domestic Cat) – his familiar (on holiday)
Incapacitated (Year 2 Day 51)
Upon arrival at the blasted lands, Korum had taken a day or
two to recover from something he had eaten. What happened to the party during
those hours has been recorded previously from an extract from Rioja’s diary.
Rioja meanwhile remained at the previous town to look up some arcane writings
he had found.
The Village (Day 52)
Storm clouds continued to grow on the mountain tops; an
ominous black brooding that had been present on the roof of the world since
they first arrived in the blasted lands. Now that they were getting closer to
their destination, the party of adventurers yearned for more shelter from the
sight ahead of them. They spotted a settlement in the distance and decided to
head towards it for a bit of rest and hopefully to find some clues about their
quest, even if it was only directions to the next settlement.
Upon arrival at the large timber-walled village they noticed
that there were no guards posted at the gates and the walls were in a terrible
state of repair. Once inside they saw that all the villagers were extremely
poorly dressed and malnourished; their houses and communal buildings were in a
state of very poor repair. They sought out a tavern but not one was in a good
enough state of repair that matched even the shelter offered by their camping
equipment. They looked around for a town leader but upon questioning a villager
found out that there was no such person and that they just managed to scratch a
living from a small communal plot of land outside the village. They tried to
get some answers from the villager but he said he didn’t know anything other
than that they had always been poor and the storm cloud had been above the mountains
as long as anyone could remember. Asked if he knew of a guide to take them to
the mountains he responded that some of the children might know a way through
but it would be difficult to get them to accompany the party. Asked why they
didn’t just move away, he replied that they didn’t know anywhere they could go
that wasn’t blasted and they wouldn’t have enough food for the journey anyway.
The party decided to move on and make camp for the night
away from the village just in case the poor tried to steal their goods whilst
they slept.
An Encounter by Night
The party had travelled several miles from the village
towards the foothills of the mountains when they decided to make camp. They set
watch as usual and made a fire to keep warm and cook their food.
During second watch, just after midnight ,
by the light of the moon, Knil thought he spotted some movement between a pair
of smaller mounds, about half a mile away. He called for the rest of the guards
to take a look but they spotted nothing. He decided to rouse everyone anyway
and set off to investigate. As the rest of the adventurers awoke, he spotted a
few more furtive movements between the mounds and on one occasion a small head
popped up just long enough to let him know that the party were being spied
upon.
Korum quickly made his way through the shadows up to where
Knil was stationed and had a look. He spotted track marks on the ground but
could not identify them. He decided to follow them keeping to the shadows
again. He espied the prowlers again very soon, but they were much closer this
time; they were definitely humanoid.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared behind the humanoids
bringing them into sharp focus (this turned out to be a light spell cast by
Arken). The shapes resolved themselves into human children, perhaps twelve
years old and filthily dressed. Korum called out to them to not be afraid, and
enticed them back to camp with the promise of food and warmth from their camp
fire.
After a hearty meal, Arken asked them what they were up to.
They mentioned that they were from the village the party had just left, and that
they were indeed spying on the party as they saw them as mighty heroes and
wondered what they were up to. Upon being asked if there was a way through the
mountains, the children said that there was but it was guarded by scary
monsters. The children agreed to accompany the party to the pass through the
mountains on the promise of food for their village, to which the party agreed.
The Guardians of the Gates in the Mountain (Day 53)
After a refreshing sleep and hearty breakfast, the party
followed the children for a few hours before the pathways became too narrow and
bumpy for the wagon to move any further forward. They decided to leave the
wagon where it was and carry their supplies in their packs the rest of the way.
They told the children that after they had shown them the passageway through
the mountains they should return that way, take the wagon with them back to
their village and if it was still in good condition when they arrived back they
would be rewarded with lots of food. The children agreed but said that it did
nothing for their empty stomachs until then. Arken cast a few spells and
conjured up several weeks’ worth of food on the back of the wagon for the
villagers to have until the party returned.
Another couple of hours trekking passed when the children
motioned that they had at last come to the entrance to the mountain pass.
Looking over the lip of a mound, Korum saw that there was an artificially flat
area before a set of huge gates set into the mountainside. Before the gates was
a set of what looked like statues of men in heavy armour. Korum threw a rock to
one side to attract their attention but the statues made no movement to
investigate. He threw a second rock directly at the lead statue using all the
Giant Strength he could muster. The rock shattered on impact but left no trace
of damage upon the statue. The statue, again, did not stir. The party
approached cautiously after telling the children to go back to their village
now. However, after approaching the statues and glancing over their shoulders
they noticed that the children were there to watch what the party did next.
Korum headed for one of the rear statues for a closer look
but Bardan, patience already fraying, stepped straight up to the lead one again
and struck it a mighty blow with his magical great axe. The axe head bounced
off the statue leaving not a trace of the impact.
Korum completed his investigation and reported back that the
armour was really tightly fitted with absolutely no gaps except the eye
sockets. When he looked inside he could not see anything in there, and he could
not pry the face plate open for a better look. He searched the ground and
statues for traces of a trap and found that from each statue to every other one
was a slight furrow in the earth creating a criss-cross pattern between them.
He decided that crossing the lines might activate the guardians, so he
clambered over the one nearest the left hand side of the door avoiding crossing
the lines. He made it to the door which was 15 feet high and made of solid
metal. On each valve there were three locks. These he investigated, noticing
that they were identical but could not be opened one at a time – the mechanism
would require all six locks to be turned by six keys simultaneously. Now where
would he find those keys? He clambered back to the rest of the party to give
them his news and they decided that they needed to spring the trap to see what
happened.
Korum nimbly crossed several of the lines to the gates, and
as he crossed each line, the statues at either end of that line turned to face
him and half-drew their swords. As nothing untoward happened thereafter, Arken
did the same on the other side; the statues did the same for him. Korum realised
that something was still missing from the puzzle, so he made his way to the
centre of the configuration where most of the lines crossed. As soon as he
stepped onto the central crossing point all of the statues drew their swords
fully and advanced upon him, something rattling in their chests at every step.
Fearing for his friend’s safety, Bardan struck at the statue nearest to him,
half caving in the visor on the helmet – they could be damaged whilst there was
a scapegoat in the centre of the trap. Korum was coming very close to being hit
by all six advancing statues, so he jumped out of the area bounded by the furrows
on the floor and all of the statues returned to their original positions. The
party realised they may need to sacrifice someone to spring the trap long
enough to damage all of the statues.
Arken volunteered to take the central spot and proceeded to
cover himself in protective magicks. He was also one of the better armoured of
the party and as a result could probably soak up more damage before having to
get out of there. The rest of the party arranged themselves around the six
statues, each adventurer taking one each and the infantry ganging up two to one
on a statue each. Arken stepped back into the centre of the trap and the
statues reanimated.
The initial few hits were all in the party’s favour as the
statues were unaware of them all to begin with. The statues advanced on Arken
ready to chop him into little pieces. Korum managed to cause one statue a large
amount of damage, so it turned on him instead and gave him a grievous wound.
The little thief took more and more damage as the battle went on, but the rents
he made in the armour facing him began to get bigger and bigger. The other
fighters all held their own, mostly avoiding damage but scoring hit after hit
upon their foes. Arken in the middle of the conflict was well protected by his
god’s magic. After several minutes of gruelling combat, Bardan finally struck a
blow that caused the statue in front of him to crumple to the floor. This gave
him time to go to the aid of one of the men-at-arms who was beginning to
struggle with his foe. The soldier had already suffered a few sword cuts but
was slowly losing his battle with the statue. Bardan swung his axe at the
statue but mistimed the blow; just as the man-at-arms ducked away from the
statue in front of him, Bardan’s axe caught him in his side. Korum’s
persistence caused the statue in front of him to crumple, but not before the
heavy infantryman, swaying from Bardan’s cruel cut crumpled to the floor with
another gaping wound. Bardan’s mistake angered him and he took his fury out on
the statue that had injured his hireling. A few more deft strokes of his axe
caused it too to crumple. Three statues down meant that the adventurers could concentrate
their attacks even more and the statues all eventually crumpled to the ground,
the one Knil was fighting being the final one to fall. As this last one fell,
the children on the mound behind them began to cheer wildly.
Arken immediately left the centre of the trap to heal the
fallen man-at-arms, barely saving his life. He also healed as many of the rest
of the party as needed it. The fight had taken quite a bit out of the party, so
they decided to make camp and rest up over night; Arken regaining the spells he
had expended during the fight and aftermath.
Descent into the Depths (Day 54)
The following morning, the small band of heroes packed up
camp and sent the boys on their way back to their village. They searched the
fallen statues and found that inside the chest cavity of each one was a large
key. Korum gathered them all up carefully and approached the door again. He
placed a key into each lock and had one party member per key turn them. The
valves swung open silently on their hinges when Bardan pushed them. Lighting
lanterns and torches, the party headed into the depths.
The corridor that faced them was as large as the door and
stretched on for hundreds of yards ahead. It was a natural tunnel with no sign
of anything artificial. After several hundred yards, the party began to spot
the occasional bone lying on the floor; species indeterminate. Further on, they
began to hear a slithering, scraping sound emanating from ahead. They proceeded
further along the tunnel to find that it eventually opened out into a huge
natural chamber with supporting pillars made from joined stalactites and
stalagmites. The slithering, scraping sound was definitely louder in the
chamber and Korum, who had scouted ahead, spotted the reason why. An enormous
snake was curled up in the corner of the large chamber. Without hesitation,
Bardan threw one of his fire bombs at it, but this only made it angry and rear
up. It let out a huge hiss and then let fly a bolt of lightning that hit the
fighter square in the chest bowling him over. Knil and the two archers let
loose a few shafts at the abomination, Knil scoring direct hits, and the rest
of the party charged into the fray whilst Bardan regained his feet and Korum
hid until he could spot an opportunity to attack a weak point.
The battle only lasted a few minutes with the party hacking
away from the front and Korum, having jumped on its back delivering blow after
furious blow to its neck and head. Bardan was struck a few more times before he
made a telling blow causing the snake to dip its head momentarily. Arken saw
his opportunity and with his magical mace crushed its skull. The snake’s eyes
glazed over and it fell to the ground stone dead.
Korum scanned the snake’s nest for anything of interest but
only found a hole in the ceiling through which it must have passed to get into
the chamber. The party could now either continue across the chamber to exit via
the passageway opposite the one they came in from, or they could investigate
the hole from which the snake had emerged.
Message from Rioja:
ReplyDeleteMaking slow progress with research. These books are terribly written, especially the tomes named 'Fifty Shades of Evil'. I suspect I will require another week to complete my work.
When not reading I have been practising riding Epona. Fast she may be, but she's highly temperamental, refusing to jump even the smallest log for no reason at times.