Session 2 Report - South of Nosbury

General Summary

The morning dawned fair and Tanith made her way downstairs with her pack, carefully locking her door as she left. In the common room, she spied Roland speaking with a wood elf. Sliding up to them, she overheard the new elf asking if he could come along, and Roland acquiesced. He said his name was Lucian, and she recalled seeing him along the edge of the battle two nights ago. Bear was finishing up his breakfast and stood, grabbing up his weapons and belting them on. Silas entered the inn, and the party set out. A short way outside town, Aliurinal stepped out of the surrounding vegetation.   The group set off, following the river south. At noon, they stopped to eat a light lunch. Tanith asked Silas how long he had been with the city guard, and he said he had joined them about a year and a half ago. Silas pointed out more rocks in the river that had come down from the mountains. Aliurinal found a chunk of bone that was roughly carved, appearing to be “art” of the ogres. He did not find any tracks, however. After reporting in, Aliurinal moved on ahead once again. Tanith tried to strike up a conversation with Lucian about where he was from, but he just stated, “My clan is no more.” Tanith glanced at him curiously, noting his weaving gait, as if he had been drinking.   After another half day travel, the party made camp. Aliurinal came into the camp with a single rabbit and shared it with Lucian. Tanith rolled her eyes and snorted, shaking her head. “Elves!” she muttered. The two elves divided the watch, allowing the rest of the party to sleep uneventfully. After breaking their fast and taking care of other needs, the party started off along the river again, with Aliurinal out ahead scouting as usual.   As the sun neared the zenith, the party caught up to Aliurinal, who was resting near ogre sign that he had discovered. He hypothesized that this area was a ford used by the ogres. Crossing the river, Aliurinal looked for tracks on the western bank. Silas started across but slipped and fell and did not come up. Just as Tanith started toward him, he made it back to his feet. “I’m okay!” he shouted, before slipping and falling again. The two scouts determined that 2-3 ogres had passed that way about a day ago. There was no sign that they had stopped or camped anywhere nearby. The party decided to follow and set out to the west.   Three hours later, they found signs of heavier ogre traffic, leading off to the northwest. Following in that direction for two more hours, the group made camp shortly after dusk. During his watch, Lucian heard movement to the southwest. He awakened Bear and Silas. Tanith, who always slept lightly on campaign, awakened and sat up. Bear was moving off to the edge of camp but could not see anything. Tanith lobbed a small pebble at Roland. “Put on your goggles!” she hissed. “There’s something moving out there.”   Waking Aliurinal from his meditation, Lucian moved off. He could see ogres moving around to the southwest. Aliurinal, following the movements of Lucian, suddenly frowned. “I lost him,” he breathed. “Is he hiding?” Now on high alert, the companions quietly gathered weapons, readying for action. Melting out from the darkness, Lucian appeared back in camp. “Two ogres. Moving off. I don’t think they saw us.”   Silas was in favor of ambushing the ogres. After a hurried conversation about who could see in the dark, the party set out to follow the ogres. They did not seem to be moving very quickly, but were meandering slowly along, jostling each other and arguing. Aliurinal, Roland, and Lucian, able to see better in the darkness, led the way with Silas, Tanith, and Bear following behind. The ogres seemed unaware that they were being followed. After a hurried whispered conversation, a plan was devised. Aliurinal would shoot an arrow at the ogres and then run, pulling them toward the group who would ambush from the surrounding trees.   Raising his short bow, Lucian let fly, hitting his target. Aliurinal’s arrow sped away, striking the second ogre just a split second later. Aliurinal leaped to his feet, intentionally making noise while turning to run in the direction of the hidden party. Lucian took off as well, easily passing Aliurinal within a few steps despite his rolling, staggering gait. The ogres, obviously angry, lumbered surprisingly quickly, gaining on Aliurinal. The two elves ran full tilt toward the trees, the ogres in hot pursuit.   As they passed the trees where the companions were hidden, the elves turned to face the ogres. Bear, approaching from behind, stabbed one of the ogres in the back. Aliurinal let fly, his arrow burying itself in an ogre’s gut, then he melted out of sight. Silas stepped forward and drove his short sword into the ogre’s side. Roaring, the ogre turned and swiped at Silas with his club. Silas ducked under the swing and danced backward. Roland stepped out from behind a tree and blasted lightning from his bracer, striking the same ogre. Tanith summoned her echo and attacked the second ogre, fumbling once and then striking the ogre. Swiping at the echo, it dissipated, and the ogre looked around wildly in confusion.   Stepping up into range, Lucian shot an arrow into the first ogre, which looked to be close to death. Bear shifted to the right, attacking the stronger ogre and swinging his battle ax into his back. Aliurinal joined in, shooting an arrow and striking it. Silas stabbed the first ogre one more time, and it went down. Roland’s lightning coursed toward the remaining ogre as Tanith summoned her echo in front of it once more. The echo struck out with her shadowy sword and brought the ogre down. Drifting over to the downed ogres, the group exchanged glances. “Who is getting their ears?” Tanith asked. Silas shrugged and bent to the grisly task.   Searching through their pockets, Tanith found coal in one’s pocket and cabbage in the other’s. Looking up at the others in puzzlement, she shrugged. “What the heck?” Everyone else shrugged as well. Moving off, they found a place to camp so Aliurinal could finish his meditation. Tanith asked to see the bone carving they had found earlier in the day. Giving it to Roland, she asked if he could identify whether it was magic. Ten minutes later, he stated it was just a piece of bone. Disappointed, Tanith gave it back to Silas.   Two hours later, the companions were up and ready to move on. After a brief conversation, it was decided to head back to the river and continue southward, looking for the source of the magic focus item the boys had found in Farmer Kevin’s field. Aliurinal scouted ahead, marking the best path angling back to the river. Late in the afternoon, they found signs of a large group of ogres on the west bank of the river as recently as that morning. Aliurinal and Silas declared it might be a regular watering hole for the ogres.   After much discussion, the group decided the priority was to track the source of the magic item. However, Tanith knew that sometimes ogres can be magic users, so maybe the goals were actually one and the same. They moved away from the river to make camp except for Aliurinal, who left to scout the ogre village. Approaching stealthily, Aliurinal saw what seemed to be a new or temporary camp with ogres of all ages numbering around 3-4 dozen. After he reported in, the group debated whether this group of ogres was running to something or away from something, but no decision was reached. Deciding on a double watch, the elves maintained their original watch order – Aliurinal followed by Lucian – while the others took 2-hour shifts in the following order: Roland, Bear, Silas, Tanith. The night passed uneventfully.   In the morning, as the party broke their fast, Aliurinal scouted back down toward the river. He saw three ogres coming down to the river – two adults and one child. He returned to the camp to report. Gathering their equipment, the group set off south down the western bank. Along the way, Tanith found an interesting rock and slipped it into her pocket to show to Roland later. The day passed uneventfully as the party progressed toward the foothills. In the evening, they made camp, the elves watching in two shifts. The next day, they entered the foothills around noon and the terrain became more difficult. The river continued to narrow with other streams flowing downhill and joining the flow. Silas found a rock that appeared to have a mark from a chisel. He showed Aliurinal, who agreed with his assessment. They found more rocks that appeared to have been worked, mostly toward the east. As evening fell, they made camp and the elves set the usual watch.   They continued on the next day, following the worked rocks to the east. The day passed uneventfully as the companions kept an eye out for any game to supplement their dwindling supplies. They camped and started out again the next day, much the same as the last. After only about an hour, Aliurinal looked up toward a sound to the east. Tanith broke out in a cold sweat and stopped dead, looking eastward. Aliurinal looked at her in puzzlement.   “Do you sense something?”   “Demon,” she whispered. “Can’t you smell it?”   Silence fell and the sounds of rock being worked were clearly audible. Aliurinal moved off to look over the next ridge in the direction of the noise. He could see humanoids of some kind constructing a stone platform. There were three large figures and around 10 small figures. Tanith was pacing back and forth, agitated, trying to stay in control.   “Maddy,” whispered Tanith. “I am coming for you. Hold on. Please hold on.”   Silas suggested splitting up to observe the site for the rest of the day and then meeting back in the evening. Tanith suggested they stay together in pairs. She volunteered to go with Aliurinal and they carefully moved off, Aliurinal showing her where to step and how to keep her footfalls silent. Silas and Bear moved off in a different direction, while Roland and Lucian circled around to the opposite side of the site. Tanith could see a crude statue made out of mud that resembled a horned being. A bigger figure appeared to be directing the building of the platform. After an hour had passed, two of bigger figures began speaking in Abyssal.   “How does time work here? Shouldn’t he be back by now? What if he is not here when we’re done?” They looked to the west. “Do you think we should go after him? Maybe we could find it.” Tanith translated for Aliurinal. He moved forward to get a closer look at the platform. He determined the platform was about 75% complete. He signaled for the others and went back to Tanith, and they continued to watch. The larger figures, grotesque in appearance and carrying polearms, continued to grumble, worried about being punished. They continued to supervise the smaller figures, which did not resemble any known creatures from this realm.   As the sun neared the zenith, the figures all made a circle around the mud statue, held hands, and chanted, “Don’t worry; we’re going to help you come. We have a present for you.” Exchanging a glance, Aliurinal and Tanith made their way back to the rendezvous spot.   The party discussed options. The missing demon to the west was troubling. Aliurinal suggested just putting an arrow in one of the larger figures and going from there. Bear suggested destroying the mud statue. As Tanith calmed down and started to think again, she recalled that the smaller figures were like the “peasants” of the Abyss, like worker bees, that she had always heard referred to as “Abyssal wretches.” Deciding on a course of action, they moved back toward the work site to prepare the ambush. Deciding that the watch point of Aliurinal and Tanith was the best location – being both uphill and with sufficient cover – the group approached quietly and took places behind the boulders. At a signal, all let fly at the closest larger creature. The creature staggered and a lightning bolt shot by its head. The other creatures all spun to look toward the source of the arrows as the figure toppled to the ground, unmoving.   Shifting focus to the next closest larger demon, Aliurinal let fly but the demon batted the arrow away. “Get them!” it yelled, and the bigger figures backed up and crouched down behind the platform to present a smaller target. The smaller figures started to mill around, preparing to charge toward the group. Bear changed target and shot one of the wretches, but it continued to run toward the concealed group. Tanith fired at the same creature and it dropped, skidding on the ground before coming to rest. Roland sized up the foe and then moved to line them up in his sights. He stepped forward and ejected acid toward the creatures from his outstretched hands. Two of the creatures dodged but the one in the lead was covered in acid. Roland backed up to rejoin the line. Lucian feathered the unfortunate acid-soaked wretch, although it remained on its feet.   Aliurinal took careful aim but was unable to hit one of the larger figures behind the platform. Suddenly they seemed to disappear, but Aliurinal could still see them flanking the group to the right. He yelled out to Silas to alert him, as Silas had crept out to the right unnoticed by everyone else. Bear hit one of the smaller demons with a bolt. A second later, the one covered with acid cried out and dropped to the ground. Two more closed with Bear and Lucian, while the rest came piling up behind. Tanith summoned her echo and it appeared in front of the party. Attacking with a misty sword, it dropped one of the small creatures and turned on a second, wounding it severely.   Roland stepped forward and Tanith flinched backward as a wave of thunder rolled out centered on his location. Six of the creatures staggered, three of them dropping to the ground while the other three were pushed outward from Roland’s position. One of them skidded through the group and was struck down by Bear and Lucian as it slid past. Lucian stepped up and cut down one of the creatures as it tried to regain its balance. He continued to move forward and to the right, with his peculiar fluid gait.   Aliurinal shot at the larger demons, yelling for everyone to watch where his arrows landed as that would show the others where the demons were hidden. He hit one of the larger demons. Nearby, Silas shook his head and gritted his teeth, feeling something was not quite right. He hesitated, waiting to see what would happen next. Suddenly, the two larger demons leaped through the air, landing beside Lucian who was standing next to Silas, although he was unaware Silas was there. The demons hissed as they landed and Lucian paled, staggering backward.   Bear dropped the small creature in front of him and then moved toward Lucian. The last wretch stepped up to Roland but could not penetrate his armor. Silas, recovering his wits, stepped up and attacked one of the large demons. Tanith sent her echo to join in, harassing the other large demon. The echo struck one good blow but missed on the second try. Roland stepped back and blasted the last little wretch with lightning, killing it instantly. Lucian was feeling unsettled by the closeness of the larger demons, but he pushed through and swung at the closest with his staff, connecting solidly. He flew into a flurry of blows and pummeled the demon. Disengaging, he stepped back and moved in behind the demons. Aliurinal let fly and dropped one of the demons and melted out of sight. The remaining demon, looking furious, swung at Silas, striking him a solid blow and staggering him with its foul aura, his lungs feeling as if they were filling up with liquid. Bear swung his sword and connected with the demon, while Silas pulled himself together and thrust at it with his sword. He was overcome by the demon’s aura and began to cough, flies swarming from his mouth. Silas’s eyes widened and he looked up in panic. Tanith sent in her echo which swung twice and dropped the last demon. She looked at Silas in horror, watching him cough up flies. Silas sat down abruptly on the ground.   Aliurinal moved off to the platform and began to disassemble it. He then scouted out to the west to make sure nothing was coming. He moved off, yelling over his shoulder something about bird signals.   Checking through the pockets of the downed demons, all that was of interest was a piece of paper in the pocket of one of the smaller demons. It appeared to be a crude drawing of a demon with horns and two….dragons?