Session 13 - Some things are not as they seem

General Summary

We try to figure out what we are going to do. After some time, guards come into our room, remove people individually from their cages, hood them, and take them away. It seems that they are starting to prepare for the main event. Entar tells us that we will get a weapon of our choice, but it will not be our weapon, and we also get similar armour. Then we will be taken in, locked into a starting location, and at some point after the event begins and we will be let out. Spell users are helmeted and there is a simple lock under the chin. Tripp has asked Entar for his lockpick set so we hope that it will arrive in time. Sai Kyo asks for a morning star with the intention of handing it to Brovar when the fighting starts. Unfortunately, none of the people in the cages look very useful in a fight. The good news is that we should be able to take them easily, but the bad news is that we will have to stand virtually alone against any beasts. Later that day, raiders enter and takes us out one at a time, through the sand and we hear gates open, probably the stockade gates. They place us in different rooms, taking our hoods off, and locking the door as they leave. Luckily, some time has passed and we are all up to full hit points.
Tripp is the first to arrive in a room and as he is pushed in, he feels something slipped into his pocket. After his hood is removed and the raiders leave, he takes a look and finds his lockpicks. Way to go Entar! Looking round the room, there are two solid-seeming doors, one opening out and the other one in, and the floor is stone-flagged. The rest find themselves in similar situations, but worryingly, Baka can hear scratching sounds and growls, while Digby can hear something big and heavy moving around.
We start calling out for each other. Brovar and Lilrie can hear each other, and Sai Kyo can hear Lilrie, who can also hear a roaring, maybe of a big cat, as well as timid voices shouting “help, let us out” coming from closeby. Better be careful what you wish for, she thinks.
Tripp tries the door to the East which opens into a small corridor, but no way out. He then picks the lock of the door in the North and looks thru the crack. Outside he can see the edge of the dome, and directly in front of him a collection of armour, but he cannot see his own armour. Suddenly a door to his right bursts open and an Orc spews out of it. At the same time a door to his left opens and a man with a short sword appears. The man takes one look at the Orc, and runs back in. The Orc’s reaction is the complete opposite and it thunders past Tripp running to attack the man. A few seconds later there is a blood-curdling scream and then the Orc comes out, holding a head aloft in triumph.
Brovar charges the door of his room and bursts thru it into the early evening light. He also sees racks, one with weapons and one with armour. Around him a number of other doors open, and people start to emerge. Looking right his attention is caught by a lion coming out of one room to attack one of the men.
Lilrie and Sai Kyo also manage to break their doors open and get out, and see three Orcs close by them. Baka hears the commotion, and tests her door finding it open. Looking to her right sees the Orcs with Lilrie and Sai Kyo beyond them. Immediately in front of her, there is a weapon rack and she sees her own sword! Running to the rack, she grabs it and turning finds herself face to face with a wolf.
In the meantime, Tripp attacks the Orc with his long sword doing a 24E slash critical, severed the foes spine, doing extra 20 hits, paralyzing it permanently. Killer blow! He hears cheers coming from the raiders in the stockade around him, but he doesn’t have time to celebrate since two more Orcs emerge from doors to his right.
Brovar heads for the weapon rack, but a man stands in his way. Aware of the chaos around him Brovar is not in the mood for taking chances, so he hits the man with a 25E slash critical, killing him instantly. Reaching the rack, he sees his own long sword and mace, which he picks up. Looking up from the rack he sees a Lion attacking one of the men, and behind that an enormous bear emerges from another room, bellows, and starts towards him. Closeby two men come out of another room, one having soiled himself, but as they run off in terror, they run straight into the path of a massive scorpion the size of a small pony. One of its pincers grabs one of the men by the neck and with a loud “snip”, his head comes off. Bovar, his eyes bulging slightly, turns to face the charging bear.
Over in the North East Sai Kyo strikes one of the Orcs for a 18D critical and 4 more hits. Lilrie also hits for 10 damage, but takes 8 damage in return.
Baka hears the cry of a bird in the distance as she attacks the wolf doing 5 damage. The wolf tries to bite her and does 13 damage, putting her on 29. Next round she hits again for 6 damage, but is luckily missed by the wolf.
Digby casts Shield on himself and then opens the door to his room, coming face to face with a massive bear which rises on its hind legs, standing 9ft tall. Digby attacks and hits for a 15B crush critical, forcing the bear to defend this round and take 4 more hits. Next round he hits it again for a 13A slash critical, and one more damage. The bear tries to grapple Digby doing a 3A grapple critical and one more damage.
Tripp charges at one of the Orcs, and hits it for 8 damage, as the other Orc heads North towards Brovar. The Orc that Tripp hit does 19 damage to him in return. Next round Tripp hits the Orc with a 15C critical doing 3 more hits. The Orc fumbles and fails to attack this round.
Back with Brovar, the lion has finished off one of the men, and it turns to face the Bear. They start fighting allowing Brovar to turn his attention to the Orc coming from the South. One of the men helps him. Brovar misses with his long sword and lands a 20E crush critical, shattering its elbow, doing 9 more hits, and it is stunned and unable to parry for one round. Brovar follows up with his long sword doing a 33E slash critical, putting it down. As he does so he hears a bellow behind him, as the bear finishes off the lion, but it seems to have taken some damage in the process.
Sai Kyo strikes his Orc with a 12B critical, stunning it, and giving it 6 more hits. The other Orc hits him for 12 damage, putting him on 49. Lilrie is also hit for 6 damage, but attacks back hitting the Orc for a 20D crush critical and 4 more hits. Next round Sai Kyo hits the Orc for a 21E, strike to stomach, destroying a variety of organs, killing it in 12 rounds. Sai Kyo is hit again for 10 hits, taking him down to 39. Lilrie is also hit for 8 damage, but she gets the last word, landing a 19D puncture critical, taking the Orc it out.
Looking up from the desperate fight for a moment, Tripp sees Riele flying high above us, stooping towards where Baka is fighting.
Baka hits the wolf again for 6 damage, and takes 3 in return as the wolf nips at her, taking her down to 26. Digby meanwhile hits the bear for a 21C slash critical and 4 more hits. The bear is going for a hug (because Digby is just so adorable?), but fails. Next round Digby does even better hitting it with a 33E slash critical and 3 more hits. The bear goes for another bear hug, but fails again. Baka misses with her next attack, but as she does so Riele dives, her talons raking across the wolf’s face, putting it off its attack, but the wolf comes uncomfortably close to catching her.
Tripp goes to attack but fumbles, swallowing his tongue (again), stunning himself and he is now unable to parry. What is this with him? Is it a fetish of some kind? Gods know he has some strange tastes. In the background the crowd chants “kill, kill, kill” at the Orc standing in front of him, and it seems ready to give them what they want. Seeing Tripp in danger, Brovar rushes to help him screaming at the Orc “you leave him alone”, and he is aided by the fact that the bear goes for the other man behind him. As he runs, he can hear the screams as the man becomes the bear’s next victim. Nearby another man, and another wolf come out of separate rooms.
The fight in the North East comes to an end as Sai Kyo strikes the last Orc with an 18D critical, hitting him in a nerve in his upper leg, stunning him for 2 rounds, and Lilrie provides the death blow, a 26E puncture critical, and 6 more hits.
As Brovar runs down he notices that one of the four inner doors is inscribed with the ancient Tasyo word “menglanglup”, meaning Earth, but before he can arrive the Orc does 22 damage to Tripp, putting him on -20. Lilrie also notices “suchëp” (blood) on another of the doors as she runs to help Baka.
Meanwhile the fight between Digby and the Bear spills out of the room in to the arena, and the raiders love the fact that he is going toe to toe with such a beast. However, some of them do not like the fact that he has cast a spell and they begin to take out their bows. Unaware of all this Digby gets on with the job, hitting the bear with a 27D slash critical doing 3 more hits, and taking 9 damage himself from the bear. A little way to the North, Baka misses with her attack, and the wolf misses also.
Next round the bear slashes at Digby with its claws doing 5 damage and he strikes back doing a 22C slash critical, and 2 more hits, taking it out at last. He roars in triumph at beating the bear, and many of the raiders raise their voice with his.
Arriving beside Tripp in one round, Brovar attacks the Orc with his long sword for a 12B crush critical, and 4 more hits, while his mace lands a 15D crush critical, for 10 more hits, taking it out. Behind them the wolf has finished off the man and is now fighting the bear giving Brovar and Tripp the chance to run round to join Digby and the others. As they pass the armour rack Brovar checks to see if there is anything better than what he is wearing, but doesn’t find anything.
Arriving to help Baka, Lilrie attacks the wolf first, doing 6 damage, while Sai Kyo lands a 10A for 5 more hits. Showing that she is not entirely helpless Baka hits the wolf for 5 damage. Looking up Brovar cannot see Riele to check if she was injured.
Next round Sai Kyo does the same again, a 10A strike critical and 5 more hits. Following him Lilrie does 10 damage with her morning star, while Baka lands a 12C puncture critical and 3 more hits. After the wolf misses, Sai Kyo hits it again doing a 15D strike critical and 8 more hits. Baka also does 3 damage, while Lilrie breaks off and heads towards Tripp to have her helmet taken off. On her way to him Lilrie notices another word written on one of the doors, “kuwi”, meaning wind. Back at the fight, the wolf is almost done for and next round Sai Kyo finishes it off easily.
Seeing us getting together and not fighting each other, the raiders start booing and jeering at the lack of action and a few start taking out their bows. Ignoring them we head for shelter to the narrow corridor between the dome and the South East room. There Lilrie does a quick round of healing: Tripp for 3, Baka for 3 hits (32), Sai Kyo for 5 hits (44), Tripp for 7 hits and herself for 1 hit. Tripp then tries to take the helmet off Lilrie which he does with surprising ease, and he swiftly does the same for Baka.
Looking round at the last of the four doors, we see that the final word is “mëzh”, water. We wonder how to get out of this mess. Storming the stockade walls does not look like an option as there are close to a hundred raiders, many with bows. So, we conclude that the only way out is to go in. We decide to open the room with the word “suchëp” written on it and see an altar engraved with the same word and a concave depression next to it. It seems that we need to give an offering of blood to the altar. Tripp, brave or foolish, we are never really sure which, goes in and makes the offering. As he does so, the engraving lights up and there is a loud crack from outside. As Brovar and Lilrie quickly jump to one side, we see one of the iron bands around the dome sheer off, and fall to the ground. Astonished ourselves, we hear a murmur of shock from the raiders on the stockade.
Now that we know what to do Sai Kyo collects some sand and goes round to the room labelled “menlanglup”. Following Tripp’s actions, he places the earth in the depression and the word next to it lights up. Immediately we hear another loud crack and the second band sheers off to the ground. Brovar does the same in the room labelled “mëzh”, spitting into the depression, and the third band collapses. Outside the raiders become even more concerned, the arrow firing has now stopped and some of them are even moving away. Lilrie goes to the last room, blowing into the depression, and after a few moments and we hear a deafening roar from within the dome. The ground around us begins to shake and we wonder what will happen next. Knowing we cannot stay in these rooms forever, Sai Kyo moves outside to test how he feels, but there is no change. He shouts and tells the others that it is safe to come outside.
Around us, the arrows have stopped and the crowd is quickly dispersing as the bellowing and shaking continues. It sounds like something big is stomping around. We start searching to see if we can find our equipment and manage to find all our weapons but no better armour. Watching the dome, and wondering what will happen next, we see one set of doors burst open and part of the dome collapse. Emerging from the debris is a giant, 20-foot tall, swinging a huge club and bellowing with rage. At the same time another door in the stockade opens and three armoured war trolls lumber out.
As we start to fall back the giant swings its club with a stone head, the size of two humans. Not knowing how we can handle this monster, we continue backing away and that is when Tripp notices that Baka has frozen to the spot, he sees her eyes roll back in her head to show the whites, and she starts to collapse to the ground in a fit. Tripp moves to catch her and Lilrie goes to help. Looking up Sai Kyo sees Riele and notices that something is not quite right with her too.
The giant attacks the first war troll with his club which just explodes thru it and takes out the side of the building to boot. Some of the raiders fire arrows at the giant, which just enrages it further. Brovar can see that Riele has started to dive, as Baka realizes that she can see thru the eyes of Riele and that she seems to be diving directly at the giant! The fight, if you can call it that, continues with the giant stamping one of the war trolls to a bloody pull, and smashing the other into more pieces than most people can count. With the war trolls dismissed the giant looks directly at Baka with a look of pure hatred and takes two large steps towards us.
Brovar is the giant’s target and manages to dodge the upstroke of the club, but is off-balance and he knows that the downstroke will hit him. Knowing this is the end Brovar raises his eyes to the heavens and sees an impossibly large hawk with a 50-foot wingspan, diving towards him and the giant. Lilrie also sees the hawk diving down towards them, and looks on incredulously as it grabs the giant by the arm, lifting it up into the sky. As the hawk reaches the peak of its climb about 300 foot up, we see it using its beak to cut off the giant’s head, and letting the head and body fall. They hit the ground a little way away from us, the head bouncing off the ground like a huge bowling ball. The hawk continues its climb, disappearing from sight, and Baka regains consciousness, turning her head to vomit noisily into the sand.
We stand for seconds, stunned by events, and after helping Baka up, we go into the dome. Inside the walls are covered by elaborate mosaics. On one side a giant figure is hurling lightning at an Ekar falcon, and although the other side is mostly collapsed, we can just make out a mountainous, icy region with a line of giant figures approaching someone. To one side, there is a desiccated corpse, just a collection of bones with some tattered clothing. The corpse seems to be lying on a diary which also is in danger of disintegrating, and a normal-looking morning star. Lilrie picks up the morning star and sees that the shaft has zigzag shapes, similar to the forks of lightning, and a word “tashe”. We are able to read only one entry of the diary which turns out to be written by Jeralt Caryn, 1300 years ago. A relation of Sirenna perhaps?
Leaving the shattered dome, a tired-looking Riele returns with a flutter of wings, and settles on Baka’s shoulder. Turning to her Baka says “thank you, my friend”. Outside we search for the rest of our gear and find it all. Apart from Entar, there is not a single soul remaining in the stockade. Thanking him for helping us, we give him 25 gold pieces and tell him he should look up Bhulk back in Calatan. Digby, predictably, says that he wants to burn the whole place and we see no reason to stop him.
Reflecting on what happened, Baka does not know if she can control Riele, or whether she can see thru her eyes when she wants to. When she looks at her, she recognizes that the bird instigated it this time, and that it took a great toll on her. Baka doesn’t think she could instigate it, or whether she would want to, as it was not a very comfortable experience.
Lilrie examines the newly-found mace and with a flash of insight, she becomes convinced that if she strikes someone with it, they will also take lightning damage. How cool is that? She can’t wait to try it out.
As the day draws to a close Digby dances a jig of pyromaniacal delight as he sets fire to the wooden stockade. We decide to head to Gulumi and give Entar a horse and 25 gold to help him on his way to Calatan. As we part, we tell him to have a drink with Bhulk on us.

Post-Script

Two months later Entar arrives in Calatan , weary in body from his journey, but with his spirits soaring. Finding Bhulk in a tavern he quickly becomes the center of attention as he tells a fantastic story of six travellers, a giant and a huge hawk. Many people do not believe him, but Bhulk has met the six, has been to the stockade, and has seen the dome. In particular, he remembers one young lady who seemed to have a problem with her eyes when she talked to him. At the end of the evening, he sits with Entar and they both raise their glasses to the travellers, thanking them and wishing them well on their incredible adventure.

Kitty

• Session start – none
• Income – 1160 gold, 187 silver (we got it all back!)
• Expenses – 25 gold to Entar
• Session end – 1135 gold, 187 silver

Report Date

06 Mar 2021

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