Session 28 - Tripp, Archer Extrordinaire

General Summary

Brovar is badly injured and so Lilrie drags him up the stairs, out of the way of the rising water. We insert the cog wheels into the four mechanisms and start turning the handles. Lilrie and Brovar see the dragon rising and a hole about 6-foot square is slowly revealed. The four below find that they cannot crank any further and so start going up the stairs to join the two above. Once everyone is there, we all peer over the edge into the hole which appears to be 10 foot deep. In the bottom are five carved wooden feathers and no dragon. We have found them!! Baka uses Telekinesis to get them out as we are afraid of the dragon falling on us. The feathers are all identical, but Baka’s is slightly more elaborate. Going back to the cottage we make a copy of the Visitors’ book so that we can show it to Petra when we get back. It is a day’s ride and before we start the journey, we spend another night in the cottage to heal and regain our Power Points. We meet up with Riele who stayed around the cottage. On reaching the House of the Enduring, we decide to rest up for a week to allow Brovar to fully recover. We also go up a level. Showing the Visitors’ book to Petra, we can see that she is surprised that the handwriting seems to be the same. She doesn’t see any significance in the dates. There are some dates that clearly repeat and the last dates seem to be consistent with our story.
Everyone but Baka takes a wooden feather and places it in the map to see where the other Ekar are. Riele looks on, conscious of the step we are about to take. It takes a few moments, but soon a glowing marker appears on the map showing that all five are in the same location, near the capital, Gorn Tharum, in Tharum’s Teeth in the dwarven kingdom of Dalbrad. The precise location is Mt Hildar which is forbidden entry to non-dwarves.
As we are sitting around one morning, Brovar and Digby are lightly sparring, and Lilrie notices a smell of burning and woodsmoke. The forest is burning and it seems to be coming towards us. Baka asks Riele to take a look and sees that there are vast areas of the forest burning, with hordes of Soan elves, not far from us. They are accompanied by Sea Trolls. That is not a nice combination. We prepare to leave immediately, but the Soan are approaching our location in their hundreds. We ask Petra if there is another way out, but she says that there is not.
Baka, Lilrie and Digby casts Shield on themselves and Sai Kyo prepares Adrenal Speed. Tripp draws his bow as Baka prepares Jolts 3 and the others charge in to meet our old enemies. They are grotesquely decorated, the Trolls with Elven heads in a carved necklace, and the Soans with necklaces of Elven ears. This is beyond the sickest imagination!
Sai Kyo attacks a Soan first with a 16D strike critical, breaking his foes’ leg, stunning it so that it is unable to parry for 2 rounds and is on -85. His second attack is a 31E strike critical to the stomach, destroying a variety of organs, killing the Soan in 12 rounds, and giving him +10 to his next attack. Lilrie is up next striking with her morning star for a 9A critical and 8 more damage. Tripp fires his first arrow for a 14D puncture critical, stunning his foe and making it unable to parry next round, doing 6 more damage. His second arrow does a 31E puncture critical for 5 more damage, putting his foe on 2 hits per round. Digby swings his battle-axe at one of the sea trolls for a 14C crush critical which does 8 more damage. Brovar, with his long sword, hits the other sea troll for a 15D puncture critical which does 4 more damage, and his mace connects for an 8A crush critical which does 13 more hits. Digby is hit for 6 damage from a sea troll claw and takes another 19 damage from the club which also cracks a rib. The other troll claws Brovar for 5 damage and clubs him for another 21 damage.
Sai Kyo attacks another Soan elf with an 8A strike critical for 4 more hits. He gets intiative next round. Brovar does 4 damage with his long sword and a 16E crush critical with his mace which does 18 more damage. Digby wallops the other sea troll with his battle-axe for 36E critical and 15 more damage. The Soan beside Digby misses him as Tripp fires his first arrow point blank at the Soan running towards him. It does a 21E puncture critical, a blow to the chest +15 hits, stunning it for 2 rounds and making it fight at -15. His second arrow skewers the same unfortunate Soan for a 30E puncture critical which severs his weapon arm which to the Soan’s surprise falls to the floor as he is stunned for 12 rounds, his life fading away. The power of the arrows is such that they carry on to hit another Soan behind him, the first doing a 27E puncture critical and 3 more damage. The second hits the same elf for a 13C critical hitting it in the chest stunning it for a round. That was the most awesome round of bowfire ever. 107 damage, effectively taking out two foes! Lilrie attacks a sea troll with her morning star and hits for a 10 damage and a crush critical for 10 more damage. Baka lets rip with Jolts 3 against the sea troll in front of Digby stunning it for 3 rounds. From behind the fighting line Petra throws 2 throwing knives at one of the Soans stunning it for 2 rounds and making it fight at -15. Sai Kyo is attacked, but takes no damage. Brovar is attacked again by the sea troll, its claw doing 8 damage, and its club doing a 16D crush critical, breaking his right arm for 8 more hits, stunning so that he is unable to parry next round.
Next round Sai Kyo hits the Soan again with a 6A martial arts strike for 1 more damage. Digby attacks the stunned sea troll doing a tremendous 48 damage and a critical which does 25 more. Tripp fires his first arrow but fumbles, while his second arrow flies true for a 21 E puncture critical strike thru the leg, severing an artery, dropping his now unconscious foe killing it. Lilrie hits a Soan for 1 damage! Sai Kyo is attacked again, but missed. The unstunned sea troll attacks Lilrie with its claw for a 16D puncture critical, which stuns her for 1 round and makes her bleed at 2 hits per round. She uses Clots to stop the bleeding instantly. Its club also hits her for another 17D crush critical and 2 more damage. Baka prepares Numbing.
Sai Kyo attacks his Soan with a 11B strike critical which stuns him for one round and does 6 more damage. Brovar attacks with his mace while his other arms flaps around uselessly, doing a 15C critical for 4 more damage. Baka lets rip with Numbing against the active sea troll and his left leg immediately goes numb and is useless. It falls to the ground and is still able to fight, but immobile. Digby attacks the still-stunned sea troll for 54 damage and a critical which does 30 more damage, killing it. Tripp draws his sword and attacks the Soan in front of him for a 15D puncture critical doing 10 more damage and gaining initiative next round. Tripp is attacked, but the Soan misses. The Soan attacking Digby also misses, and then passes out.
Tripp attacks with his long sword hitting for a 17D puncture critical stunning the Soan again. Digby attacks the immobile sea troll for 51 damage and a critical for another 30 hits. Brovar attacks the same sea troll with his mace, a tremendous blow (318) which does 40 damage and a critical for another 13 damage, killing it. Sai Kyo lands a martial arts strike 15D which forces his foe to parry next round, but it doesn’t matter as the additional 8 damage kills it. Baka attacks the last Soan from behind doing a 21E slash critical severing its spine so that it collapses and is paralyzed from the neck down permanently. It is dead, but that is probably preferable. And with that the fight is over. That was glorious.
Lilire quickly turns to healing doing a Major Fracture Repair on Brovar and Minor Fracture Repair on Digby so that both of them will be fine by the end of the day. Lilrie heals herself, gaining 23 hits and Brovar who gets 24 hits back. In the distance we can hear the sounds of combat, the clashing or weapons and whir of arrows. The Soans have been engaged by a huge number of elves. The compound is not very defensible, but that no longer seems to matter as there is a huge number of elves who have appeared from the woods. We make sure the Soans are dead and set fire to the sea trolls.
We consult with Petra who thinks the elven warriors will win the battle and sure enough soon the gate opens and elven warriors come in, some wounded, all immaculately clad in armour. Baka and Digby offer their healing services, Lilrie apologising as she has used all her Power Points. The archers are interested in Tripp’s bow, and they offer him arrows. Fletchers among them start making more arrows, as they are expecting more attacks. They are skilled and produce more arrows quickly. Tripp shares the story of his arrows going thru one Soan into another and the elves are impressed. The elves share some stories too and soon they are getting on like old friends. Lilrie flirts with some of the elves. Well, she has to practice.
Petra and some of the senior officers have been having increasingly heated exchanges. There are now 60 elves, some wounded, some resting, some working such as the fletchers. They have been looking at the carving at Ellios and noticed the location of the feathers. Riele has been keeping a distance and thru her Baka can see many Soan corpses, some sea trolls and elves. There are several hundred elves still outside. When Riele flies higher she can see other Soan incursions and Baka gets the impression that a full-scale invasion of Maetheryan is in progress. The forces of evil are on the march!
We are in our pairs and Digby attracts Tripps attention, saying that something is going on. “From the body language of Petra, all is not right. Keep your wits about you and your weapons close”. Brovar and Baka sense the same and tell their partners. Petra is in animated conversation with 4 elven officers and Lilrie approaches her. Lilrie catches her attention and Petra comes over to the 6 of us. Petra tells us that she has been arguing our case as we are being blamed for the invasion. Apparently, our actions have been noticed and we are going to be arrested and taken to meet the King and Queen. As well as the Soans, there have been Orc war galleys sailing round the coast. The Orcs are threatening to set fire to the Forest of Nylar, which even elves have to seek permission to enter. Our activities are being linked to this invasion. The forest has always been sacred, but Petra is not clear exactly why. Maybe there are things of value or significance hidden in the forest. Petra does not think there is a way out of this. She will come with us to the court and act as an interpreter. We tell Petra about the vision of the hut, but she does not recognize it. She recommends we discuss it with the elves, the commanders and another elf who is perhaps a court official. Are we in a race with the Orcs to get to the Forest of Nylar and find whatever is there? How can we convince them that the only way to stop all this is to let us go on?
The elven commanders and the court official are aware of the stories of Ekar hawks and some believe them, while others do not. When we talk about the Serpents of Amnos, the courtier shows a flicker of recognition. “If we can call an Ekar hawk to us now, would that be proof enough of what we are saying?” Baka asks. The courtier says that is a big boast to make. So Baka calls Riele who drops instantly out of the sky, lands on Baka’s shoulder and looks quizzically at the elf. The elves at the table stand up quickly, disbelieving looks on their faces, and the whole compound goes silent. “Do you believe us now?” asks Baka. “I believe you are involved” the court official replies, recovering quickly. “Such a long journey will delay us too much” says Baka. “You are heavily outnumbered” the court official points out. “No, I am in a target rich environment” replies Digby quickly. The hairs on Tripp’s neck stand up as many of the elves surrounding us draw there bows, pointing them at us. Petra puts her hand on Digby’s arm, “now is not the time”.
What will happen if we go with them? We may be able to persuade the king and queen to let us go to the Forest of Nylar. Maybe that is our only chance.
The court official shows us a picture of a building on an island in a lake on an ancient piece of parchment and asks “Have you seen this building before?”. We look at each other, and then back at him, telling him that we saw it on the inside of a dome in Gulumi.
“This is is the resting place of one of the greatest artifacts ever created. And if what you say is true, one of you is destined to wear it”.
So, it looks like we have no choice but to travel with them to appear before the King, Queen and elven council in Ilfenore. It is 500 miles to the capital, but since the road is good and we have horses, we can make 40 miles a day. Petra will come with us to translate and vouch for us.
Our thoughts turn to the Visitors’ book and as we have recognized a repeating pattern in the dates, and believe that we can predict when the visitor will return. Today is 2/18 and we predict that they will sign in on 2/27 and out on 3/13. Since we were able to get thru the magical barrier, and the people like the Serpents of Amnos were not, we think the person may well be friendly, but we still need to be cautious. If we cannot be there in person, we can use the Mirror of Keldyrion to spy on them from afar.
Ah, the sounds of gaming: the clatter of rolling dice, the raucous laughter, the cries of triumph and failure, the reverberation of tremendous belches, and the thrump of pant-filling farts.

Kitty

• Session start – minus 80 gold!
• Income – none
• Expenses – none
• Session end – minus 80 gold!

Report Date

03 Feb 2022