Session 13: Crom!
General Summary
Having faced down the Goat Men guards of "The Master," who, "Will not be pleased," the adventurers are completely unstartled when the armored skeletal form sitting atop a stone dais rises, lifts its rusted sword high, and proclaims "Indeed, the Master is NOT pleased; leave this place, or die!" at which point, Percy makes a snarky comment about his rusty sword. The Master, proclaiming himself to be the "Warlord Grillax," strikes his greatsword against the stone floor of the barrow, whereupon sparks fly and the rust falls from a gleaming, rune-infused blade. Dolan, hoping to forestall conflict, says, "Hey, we'll leave, aright?" and then shoots the undead warlord with two bolts from his repeating crossbow, both of which dig deep. Trajinous channels her mysterious divine power and tries to turn the undead thing, but it just laughs at her, and so she takes up a defensive position behind Little Sister and Fallenbridge. Meanwhile, Kelpip brings down a fog of webbing over Grillax, and Ruhst delays, hoping for a better position where the death knight doesn't have obscuring cover. This moment comes soon enough, when Grillax rips his way out of the webs, pointing at Kelpip with his sword and proclaiming, "I despise mages; I shall have your head!" Percy is waiting for him at the edge of the webs, though. Her beastly nature breaks through and her spiked tail lashes up and around, and she swings her own greatsword at the foe's plated skull. But the warlord easily parries the powerful, rage-fuelled blow, striking sparks off Percy's sword and ripping notches in it as his own blade shimmers with ethereal runes. But his eyes remain on Kelpip. Ruhst's arrows plunk solidly into the death knight. But his eyes still remain on Kelpip. Another crossbow bolt finds a chink the half plate the warlord wears. But his eyes remain on Kelpip. Fenris darts in to try and trip the warlord, but Grillax keeps his feet ... and his eyes remain on Kelpip. Kelpip yells, "Someone, get ready to throw him back in the webs!" and then utters the arcane syllables of a strange and powerful spell ... ... ... Reduce. The Warlord Doreal Fanninous Grillax of Adair, Scourge of Wizards, Master of the North Wind and Ruler of All That is Seen and Unseen Betwix the Mountains and the Sea, Undead Sleeper Who Whispers in the Troubled Dreams of the Gnolls and of Man ... is made 3 ft tall and does 1d4 fewer points of damage with his newly-miniaturized weapons. Kelpip flees to the Conga line forming behind Little Sister. In his anger, Grillax rips at Fenris with his teeth and claws, and then swings his no-longer-great sword (good sword?) wildly at Percy, who easily leaps over the sizzling blade. The warlord's eyes finally turn away from Kelpip, realizing that there are now too many between him and his most-hated foe. His new nemesis. Percy grapples with the diminutive death knight and flings them both as far into the webbing as she can go ... which isn't all that far, as she gets tangled up in the webbing, herself. Arrows and spells come hard and fast at the Master, and soon enough his armor is bristling and the red fire in his eyes flickers sporadically. But he fights on. With one last series of blows against Percy, the sword finally finds flesh and cuts deep, infusing the death knight's own dark, necrotic power into the wound. And then Percy takes off his head. Resting for a short while, the Temple Thieves raid the barrow, finding a handful of jewels hidden in the throne while Percy meditates on the sword she has claimed for herself (and for which no one else argued, perhaps intimidated by the barbed tail that still swished ominously above the barbarian noble's cross-legged body) and while Fallenbridge plays soothing music on his accordian. Becoming one with the greatsword, Percy discovers it is far more powerful than they might have imagined: a legendary blade. A vorpal blade. (snicker snak, snicker snak) And as Percy feels its voice of steel waken to her mind, she senses others recognizing the re-emergence of this ancient and powerful weapon into the world ... and that they will lust after its acquisition. Checking on the horses and the gnolls outside, Ruhst and Dolan discover that their prairie fire has spread considerably, cutting them off, thankfully, from the gnoll war party and their warphant. Their horses are also scattered, but Little Sister takes wing and goes after them, while the rest of the Thieves finally send a raven back to Lord Calyops with a rather terse report ... and are somewhat startled when it turns out the birds are Teleporter Ravens, exploding into feathers and reappearing hundreds of miles away at a time (which, really, is also the only reasonable way to explain the physics of communication in the Game of Thrones universe). Looping north to avoid the fire, the adventurers slog on through the seemingly endless grasslands, the mountains not seeming to grow any closer day after day as they proceed EAST (EAST, not WEST, EAAAASSSSSTTTTT), further and further away from the (albeit questionable) civilization represented by the frontier city of Etherian Elps. But they do find that others have attempted to traverse the Whispering Grasslands as well. Here and there, they come across the smoking ruins of wagon trains -- the caravans of settlers who have been offered money by the Last Emperor in an attempt to reclaim lands that have long been lost to the Twilight Empire and to reverse the descent into decadence that the Empire has suffered for a hundred years and more. But the gnolls have ruled the grasslands long enough to not treat kindly with immigrants. Still, the Thieves don't find enough bodies in the wreckage, implying that the gnolls have either taken the would-be settlers as prisoners, or as food. This theory is borne out when Dolan discovers an 11-year-old girl in the grasses. Once the party revives her, they discover that her name is Clarissa, and that she was with a settlement caravan that had almost made it to the edge of the gnoll-claimed grasses when a war party found them. In the ensuing fight, Clarissa ran away into the grass, heading instinctively toward home -- back west, toward Etherian Elps, and away from what succor she might have found had she stumbled upon the settlement in the foothills that the colonists were headed toward. The party finds the wreckage of Clarissa's wagon train, but no sign of her parents. After a lengthy discussion about whether to make for a gnoll town they had spotted earlier or try to track the war party that had attacked the caravan, both in an attempt to free any survivors, or to head on to the human settlement and get Clarissa to relative safety, the Thieves decide on the latter and strike off once more toward the mountains. Within a week, and having finally broken out of the high grasses of the Whispering Grasslands and into the heavier-treed wilderness of the foothills of the high and snow-frosted Chrysanthemum Mountains, the Thieves enter the wooden palisades of the settlement of Whisper. There, they meet with the mayor, Killy, a halfling with three spiked ponytails of different colors ("She's her own fireworks!" Percy shouts gleefully, clapping her hands). Mayor Killy agrees to take in Clarissa, and also fetes the adventurers with food and drink, cajoling them into staying for a few days to advise the settlers on fortifications and such, as Whisper has been attacked a few times by orcs, but so far nothing serious. From her, they also learn that the settlers have a trading relationship with the aarakrokra of the Eagle's Swain Aerie, where they are headed next, and, to a lesser extent, with some of the dwarven hill tribes. The day the party plans on leaving Whisper and heading into the mountain passes, however, Percy awakens to find her boots muddy, and her hands ... and new sword ... covered in blood. The Vorpal blade does, indeed, awaken. (and the DM has to remember that this is a 5E game and not a horror game ... but good grief, Percy has a barbed tail with a 15ft reach and can climb walls like a spider. How can this NOT be a little bit horror?)
Rewards Granted
10 100gp jewels; 1 Vorpal Greatsword (+3; lops off a head on a Nat 20 attack) -- this is Venger, Sword of the North Wind, Bane Blade, forged in the Thanecotes of the Northern Wastes by human hands guided by the will of unforgiving gods and the Dead named Balewulf, long sought by the Temple Assassins of the Last Emperor and by the Lore Magicians of the Sultana of Zhin, among others, all of whom will soon become aware of its waking. Oh, and it has a real taste for blood. Good luck!
Character(s) interacted with
The Warlord Doreal Fanninous Grillax of Adair, Scourge of Wizards, Master of the North Wind and Ruler of All That is Seen and Unseen Betwix the Mountains and the Sea, Undead Sleeper Who Whispers in the Troubled Dreams of the Gnolls and of Man; Clarissa, likely orphan of settlers fallen to gnoll war parties; Mayor Killy of Whisper, halfling leader of the Whisper Settlement in the foothills of the Chysanthamum Mountains, beside the glacier runoff river called Ice Forge.
