Session 23b: Christmas Carols 2024
General Summary
The group is woken up early by Archi, and has requested help from them & Rikard. He needs to go into the Feywild and help an old friend who had helped him in the past.
Getting them together they make their way into the Feywild and up into a region with mountains and cold weather, something Rikard & Archi aren't too prepared for. When travelling here they are told they are to meet with St Nicholas and the job is set by him.
Encountering a town with candy houses and marshmallow people bouncing round, they are to travel just beyond here, and are held up by Rikard licking a wall. Finding it sweet, his greataxe is warped into a giant candy cane style weapon.
The team travel on up to a large building beyond the town that turns out to have Halfling / gnomish people building wooden toys etc, talking and the like, and introduced to Saint Nicholas. They find out it is to look after a book for at least 12 hours overnight. Agreeing to this they decided to trave la bit downhill and find that Archi has done this a few times before.
The book tells the story of a green bugbear that seems to do nasty stuff once a year at night when St Nicholas does good.
Rikard & Magnar go out to get some wood for a camp, and Magnar knocks on some trees to make sure they're not Treants. Rikard is stopped from cutting one down and a standard tree is found.
They all start falling asleep except Magnar who is a bit uneasy. Rikard is heard murmuring "No not up there babe" by Magnar. He wakes up and says he was engaged to a girl when younger but had a reputation of a bad prankster, including waiting till he was asleep and letting a snake she caught slip under the bedsheets. It got bad enough that her parents thought that marrying her to a farming family may ground her, but splitting up was the only option as his own family got put off her.
They all dream with Rikard dreaming that he is a wooden nutcracker still with his candy cane greataxe, Magnar as himself on a mountain looking down at a town between two mountains, and Arne appearing in the town too. They eventually meet up with Rikard licking the candy cane, and offering it to Magnar who also licks it. Magnar's longsword & shield turns to a candy cane longsword, a humbug shield.
While there they rush in to a building to hide from a sleight that is magically flying with a green bugbear on it, being drawn by a dog.
Unseen, the strange sight lands and the dog runs around taking a pee on Rikard's wooden leg. The bugbear is wearing a red & white shirt and hat, who proceeds to grab a large tube attached to a strange machine attached to his sleigh. Climbing on top of the roof of a house, he goes down the chimney and a strange sound is made from the machine.
Magnar & Rikard sneaks over after Magnar distracts the dog with a bit of meat. Seeing what looks like presents being sucked through the chimney & tube, Rikard bashes the machine with his great axe destroying it.
Soon a tugging of the tube occurs, and the bugbear gets halfway out the chimney before getting stuck. He points down and shouts at them. Both sides start combat with the guys going first and Arne shoots the bugbear with a couple of Eldritch Blasts, followed by Rikard throwing two handaxes at him doing a bit of damage.
Magnar bursts into the building and grabs the tube. Working to twist round the bugbear he pulls the creature down who lands on his butt. They take a swing at each other doing a bit of bruising. Rikard tries to pull the tube from the other end but is incapable of doing so making himself look a weakling high on sugar.
Rikard then busts into the building while Magnar draws his sugary sword & shield, which causes the bugbear to grab the shield and start gnawing on for a bit of vitality.
Swinging his candy cane greataxe. Rikard decapitates the bugbear ending the dream.
All three wake up to see Archi with the book keeping an eye on them, and asking if they managed to defeat the bugbear. Turns out he had done the same before and does it as a favour to St Nicholas as a favour after the latter gave him help in the past with a few different magic elements.
By doing so they return the book, get a special reward each (a potion of healing each, Rikard a frostbrand weapon - longsword, Arne a Dread Helm, and Magnar a Cape of Billowing). They make it back to Eschbach after that with these items.
Rewards Granted
Arne - Dread Helm, Rikard - Frost Brand, Magnar - Cape of Billowing
Stormthrower Bloodaxe
Warlock 3
14
15
14
15
16
19
Fleec Snow
Rogue/assassin 8
12
18
16
14
14
16
Reolus Rhin
Rogue 20
9
20
14
10
13
19
Grimmaz Fyrwin
Fighter 14
18
18
18
14
14
14
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