Session 3: Battle With Bristlebelly's Scouts

General Summary

Examining the wizard's lair, the party peeled up some softened bone by the bloodstains, and were able to peer down. Seeing the completely empty ribcage and the long drop underfoot, the adventurers decided to leave. Emerging from the wizard tower, they heard gurgling, raspy breaths. Looking up, they saw one of the dead horses from the stables. It clung to the vertical surface, watching the group with a predatory hunger. It attacked. The horse rearranged its bones and shot them out like a chameleon's tongue. The horse's skull bit into an arm and began to reel the victim in. Now alert to danger, the party saw that some of the flesh and organs of the horse had been remade into long tendrils that lay down the walls and into the nearby park like fishing lines. Tracing the sticky traps, they quickly found the other horse also lying in wait. It was now clear that the horses had been radically mutated by arcane accumulation. Battling the aberrant creatures, Hodari found that the tendrils stuck fast to flesh, when he tried to grab one and pull the horse off from the wall. Making sure to use their weapons, the party fought back, while attempting to dodge strikes from repurposed bones. Eventually, both the creature fell. Before the party could catch a breath, however, a group of raiders popped up from hiding places, surrounding the party. An orc, the same one from a few days earlier, came forth as their leader.
Before the bandit could make his demands, Hodari attacked. The leader ordered his scouts to kill Visayan, saying "Kill the wizard, take his book." The archers appeared confused, but complied, drawing their bows at Visayan. Visayan flew to the top of the tower, eventually getting to cover. As they fought, the orc convinced his scouts that the party were the ones to kill Burrhenge. The successfully realized that the orc had different motivations than the rest of the raiders, and had some odd taint to his cleric spells. As the battle went on, the orc's cronies grew increasingly confused by his demeanor. Most were dispatched before they could fully question the bandit. When the orc was slain, the remaining bandits fled, but were hunted down by Hodari. The final bandit made it to the lift platform, and was halfway to the ground. Knowing how dangerous it would be for the raider to escape, Hodari risked jumping down to the platform. He initially missed, but was saved by Khashayar's quick thinking. With a casting of Feather Fall, Hodari avoided death and slew the final bandit.
They party found they lost a little loot to the scouting party unsuccessfully stealing their food, but did take all of the scouting party's mounts as prizes. Kestrel took the time to dump all the bodies off the shell to the plains below.

Notes

The party caught on to the incongruous nature of the orc bandit. He arrived at the dead city at almost the same time as the party, after seeding the rumor that Burrhenge had died. He knew that Visayan had found a book, even before the party came up from the secret room under the basement. The raiders were confused by some of his statements, and he was clearly not there just to raid the food and goods from Burrhenge.

Report Date

04 Dec 2024