Co-workers: Session 10 - Abandoned Report

General Summary

Morning Inside The Bubble

  Abendlied wakes up from her slumber. She glances around the interior of the bubble. Her crusty filled eyes barely allow her to open those eyes. She notices that there are three fewer people inside the bubble. There is also a note. It isn't a ransom note but a farewell note.    

Egart   “I apologize for leaving you this note. I don't think Lord Jeffreys and Lady McFey will assist us in finding the cure for my good friend Mystery Owl. They sent us on this quest. That I feel we are ill-equipped to accomplish. They prepared for us to journey with amoral people. That berated us. Abendlied, something about you brings out the darkness in me. Threatening and torturing that prisoner. There's also something about your presence. We just don't feel safe around you. Freya is coming with us to help find the cure for Amber. Farewell. “

    Frustratingly Abendlied crushes the note in our hands. The other people begin to rise from their sleep.    

Abendlied   “They left us. Those fucks fucking left us! They left us in the night with no one to watch.”   Bob   “Who left us?”

    Abendlied begins explaining what just happened. On the corner of her eyes, she sees Gabbro magically disappear. Disappear like the way Mystery Owl always does. Everyone inside the magical hut is stunned by the disappearance.    

Abendlied   “Shit!? I hope that thing isn’t contagious.”   Egert   “Oh my? What did just happen to the grey dwarf?”   Abendlied   “He is a duergar. Calling him a grey dwarf again. I will kill you.“   Egert   “Gotchya, note received. I think we need to head back to town. Go over our options.”   Bob   “Man, that sounds like a good idea.”

  Egert releases the enchanted hut. Several loud noises are coming from the nearby shrubbery. Hounds with chains tailing them jump out of the bushes. On the other side of those chains are a mean-looking hobgoblin and his comrades.    

Hobgoblin Captain “Are these people that assault my men? I do not see a duergar”

  A frail old human male steps forward. One of the people that the party saved the day before.  

Old Man   “Yes. Those are the people. At least most of them.”

  The hobgoblin captain gestures to the party as he is about to speak.  

Hobgoblin Captain   “You are all under arrest. For the killing of Lord Zynn tax collectors.”

    The party argues their innocents to deaf ears. It was the other party members that killed his men. They explained. The hobgoblin captain quickly dismissed the notion. He mentions. The tracking has already begun for those members. They embark on the trek to the hobgoblin base of operation.  

The Prison Camp

The hunting party arrives at the encampment with their prey. They all see a rough-looking base camp. Poorly made hovels and army tents scatter the mountainside. The hobgoblin captain orders them to line up in a muddy part. Several other newer prisoners are standing in line with them. Only one of these prisoners stand out. This elf has the look of a beach tan and summer fields. She stares dagger at Egart. Egart timidly looks about avoiding her eyes.   A shirtless hobgoblin comes out of a makeshift forge. He looks over the prisoners with his disfigured face. A bloody black ax about the size of an elven hand is unusually embedding in his sternum. He faces the group of new prisoners.    

Sano   “My name is Sano. I run this encampment. You will all follow my rules.”

  He begins to explain the rules to the present prisoners. The various crimes committed and the punishment that follows. He examines the party with his cold yellow eyes.  

Sano   “You are the ones that killed my men. Why did you kill my men? Are you wannabe heroes or just enjoy killing? It doesn’t matter.”   R’in   “I’m also part of this group.”   Sano   “Ok, you will suffer the same fate. Where is the duergar?”

  Sano walks parallel to the group. He watches over each of them intimately. Come around to Bob and stop.  

Bob   “Herman Miller, I have a message for Herman Miller.”

  Sano examines Bob curiously.  

Sano   “Herman Miller, you say? There is no Herman Miller here, but I’m curious to hear more. Send these murderers to a good tent. I would like to talk to them later."

  The hobgoblin guards forcefully bring the party to their cell. It is an open-air cell with a pop up canvas roof. The guards close the cell door. R’in immediately assaults Egert.    

R’in   “You coward! You abandoned us and left us to die!”   Egert   “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I told you all that I’m not a fighter. We were getting slaughtered.”

    R’in and Egert begin explaining their story of the events. She has been part of the previous party to search for the city. They passed the first obstacle of the three questions from the mysterious people. Only one person turned into a bowl of pudding. She didn’t go into detail about surviving the wolf assault.   Shortly after nightfall, several guards open the cell. The explained Sano wishes to speak with them. The guards brought the group to the most fortified area of the encampment. It is a complex surrounded by wooden battlements. The structure looks like a two-story Norse log cabin. Laying flat on the ground is an owlbear pelt. The support beams have crudely sculpted owlbears with their arms holding the ceiling. Figurines adore a map war table in the center of the room. Intently watching you is the grotesque-looking Sano. Sano is in dark plate mail. The breastplate has a cut-out. The cut-out exposes the symbol on his chest that you saw earlier. Leaning next to him is a black double-bladed scimitar. He motions his hands for you all to sit.    

Sano   “Why did you kill my men?”   Abendlied   “We were not the people that killed your men. It was those fucks that left us. Those are the guys that killed your men.”   Bob   “Yeah, it was those guys.”   R’in   “Yep, it was them. I watched them do it.”

    The conversation goes back and forth. Until Abendlied whispers a suggestion to Sano. Sano shook off the suggestion by Abendlied. Realizing that she cast a spell using her silvery tongue. Gag her Sano order.    

Sano   “What do you know of Herman Miller?”   Bob   “I am supposed to give a note to Herman Miller. Is Herman Miller here?”   Sano   “There is no Herman Miller here.”

  Bob recognizes a symbol on the plate mail of Sano.  

Bob   “Wait, I got that reversed. Sorry about that. Herman Miller gave me a scroll to give to you. It is on my belt line.”

    Sano reads the scroll given by Bob. He begins laughing aloud.    

Sano   “It appears that your friend would like for us to kill you. Under normal circumstances, we would have killed you on the spot. Instead, we are going to have you and friends work here until you die.”

    The party is escorted back to their cages by the guards. Once the guards settled down into a routine. The co-workers begin planning their escape. They all agreed to create a distraction using an invisible servant. Egert name his servant name is Craig. Craig will start a fire close to mining operations and supplies. The instant that the people act in response to the fire. R’in and Egert will use their magical abilities to slip through the cell. R’in will attempt to free the others. Egert will hastily dash to the supply tent to begin taking all of their belongings. They all agreed to this plan.   The military mine site has settled down for the night. This would be the safest chance to start the escape plan. Egert takes a loose piece of string and a piece of wood from the ground. He draws a ritualistic symbol into the dirt. He places the string and the wood into the magical symbol. He motions in the air drawing a person’s body for 10 minutes.    

Egert   “Craig, I would like for you to start as many fires as you can. Start with the mining supplies. Now go.”

  About 10 minutes go by R’in and Abendlied notices and growing warm light. The light is coming from the direction of the mining area. Abendlied and R’in nod in agreement with each other. Alarm gongs ring across the camp. It is time to start phase two of the plan. Egert mumbles under his breath, then comes to a gaseous form. This form travels between the beams of the cage. R’in gives a sly smile to everyone. A burst of flames engulfs her as she vanishes. She erupts on the other side of the cell. She quickly picks the lock of the cage. She opens the cell door so that her friends can escape. She follows Egert to the supply tent. She does not trust him to not run off like before. Egert quickly dashes to the tent that will have all of their belongings. Egert and then R’in takes all of their known belongings. They both begin to run to the outskirts. They did not go unnoticed in their escape. Three hobgoblins were heading to help control the fire, as they noticed the two fleeing captives. Egert is used to running away from threats. He hauls past R’in. R’in has a hard time escaping and holding items. One of the soldiers catches up to her. R’in stares at the charging soldier’s. The eyes of the guard burst out of his skull. She does not know what just happened. She keeps running to the woods. Abendlied stands at the edge of the came definitely. She is whispering venom at the hobgoblins. Following each insulting murmur, a hobgoblin collapses to the earth.   R’in reaches the treeline, followed by Abendlied.    

R’in   “Did you see those guys fall? I don’t know what happened, but I’m glad it happened.”   Abendlied   “That was me. Let us go.”   R’in   “I know of a safe place to rest. Follow me.”

    R’in goes to a cave system that she has rested before getting caught. Egret uses his magical item to create a protective dome.  

The Vampire in the Mist

The party wakes up from their slumber. Those that kept watching didn’t hear or see anything unusual. They travel for a few hours during the morning. Each member keeps a watchful eye behind them. They don’t want the hobgoblins to sneak upon them. The traveling troop is surrounded by a tall healthy canopy of fern trees while hiking down the mountainside. The air is cool. Various types of birds are chirping. The party notices different carvings of white stone cover with moss and fungus. A low mist covers the eroded ground of ruin structures. R’in and Bob begin investigating the area. R’in steps into the mist as Bob examines a collapsed structure. R’in screams in pain. Something in the mist started to drain the life from R’in. The mist keeps sucking the life out of air. Bob nearly crapped his pants. He ran up the tree in an attempt to get far away from the mist. Abendlied launches a verbal assault at the vapor creature. R’in severely weakens and slashes her dagger in this corporal thing. She sprints out of the mist heading towards Abendlied. The mist attention turns to Bob. Its ghostly visage is traveling up to Bob as he climbs even higher on the tree. The psychic attacks from Abendlied insults continue damaging the creature. R’in briefly thinks about climbing the nearby tree. She decides to launch an arrow. The arrow from the short bow misses the mark. One more verbal attack finishes the vampiric mist.   Abendlied had heard of such a creature. The natural form of the creature. Must have been destroyed. Those creatures that lose their natural form must return to its resting place. She wonders if the resting place is nearby. Before the combat, Bob had noticed a collapsed passageway. Abendlied tells the other two to find cover. She creates a thunderous loud drumming noise expels rumble from the possible passageway. They all investigate the remaining rubble. Bob notices a small draft and points it out. R’in mentions that she could teleport someone to the other side. Abendlied volunteers to travel to the other end. R’in summer appearance changes to a more vibrant appearance of spring. She touches Abendlied. Bloom of cherry blossoms replaces Abendlied. Abendlied is now behind the rubble. She quickly realizes that cast her spell would be the death of her. Informs the others that it is too deep to use the spell. Bob and R’in begin to remove the rubble. Abendlied curiously goes down the passageway. She reached the end of the tunnel. There are four statues of attention next to some corinthian columns.    

Abendlied   “Oh, Fuck this noise! I do not want to deal with constructs.”

Character(s) interacted with

Sano

A hobgoblin cleric with a disfigured face and a religious symbol burned in his chest. Leader the hobgoblin encampment.  

R'in (Player Character)

An elven woman that knows Egert Duncar.