Rescue at Rivenroar - Night 2

----------------------------

Adventurers:

Beana - Elf Ranger
Blake - Deva Cleric
Bullroarer - Threequarterling Warden
Gigantor - Goliath Barbarian
Lucas - Goliath Barbarian
The Rock - Dwarf Fighter

----------------------------

Active Quests:

Main Quest: Rescue! Ascertain the fate of the following and escort any survivors back to Brindol.

1. Jalissa
2. Sertanian
3. Thurann
4. Mirtala
5. Zerriska
6. Adronsius
7. Kartenix

Minor Quest: Treasure! Recover any and all of the following town treasures:

1. Ornate, gilded dragoncrest helm
2. Ceremonial platinum longsword
3. Set of 3 shields, each with Red Hand insignia, each with a charred hole near the center
4. Set of iron gauntlets with extensive filigree
5. Heraldic battle standard depicting two hands clasped in a handshake

----------------------------

Important NPCs:

Jalissa - Half elf female, acolyte of Ioun
Sertanian - Human male, aged, castellan of the Hall of Great Valor
Thurann - Human boy, son of Kartenix
Mirtala - Human female, aged, cook
Zerriska - Human female, very aged, crone of Brindol
Adronsius - Dwarf male, alchemist
Kartenix - Human male, guard captain, father of Thurann

----------------------------

Not long after our heroes slew the ogre(and his hobgoblin sidekicks, and their cart of flammable pitch), the town watch quickly swept the town to rally the survivors to the town's north bridges. Aware of their obvious defeat, the goblinoid horde retreated into the northern wilderness.

The townsfolk took this opportunity to set additional watchmen along the town's borders, douse the remaining fires throughout the town, and heal the wounded. Alongside many of the town's different healers, Blake assisted in restoring many of the wounded and fallen to good health. Assessing the situation, town leadership sent for those responsible for holding back the invaders at the tavern, and for felling the ogre.

Eager for reassurance that our adventurers were sufficiently able, Councilmember Eoffram Troyas interviewed them as a group. Unfortunately, Troyas was left less than impressed with the party; a couple members of the party made a bad first impression. Despite that however, our heroes were reluctantly briefed on the currently known situation: a number of townsfolk missing, relics of high sentimental value stolen, and the looming threat of more attacks. Lodging was arranged for the party and they were to set out first thing in the morning.

Troyas had also made mention of a Hobgoblin which had been taken prisoner. Although attempts to interogate him had as of yet been unsuccessful, our heroes decided to have a go it at. The interrogation ended the same way their talk with Troyas did - failure. Unusual considering how poorly the interrogation went, the prisoner surprised the party by marking on the guard's map the approximate location of the goblinoids' base of operations.

As evening, and later, night, settled upon the town, the hobgoblin prisoner was taken from the stocks to the jail proper. The main party headed for The Stone Wyvern, the inn where they had their lodging arranged. Gigantor took the opportunity to head off alone and return to the Antler and Thistle tavern. From the darkness he observed the bartender silently beginning what would be a long renovation for the tavern. Stepping out of the night and into the dimly lit tavern, Gigantor startled the bartender. Sensing the bartender's apprehension, Gigantor said "I'm sorry about my hostilities earlier today; I thought you were someone else". The bartender said nothing but acknowledged his apology with a simple nod(yay -2 penalty to rolls in Brindol lifted!).

All party members now reunited at The Stone Wyvern, Lucas made a show of generosity and arranged a small feast for the party(yay +1 temporary healing surge!). In what, for lack of a better word, would be called reconciliation, the heroes introduced themselves and revealed a little bit about their backstories. Of particular mention: Gigantor, raised by Giants as a slave, whose mate was murdered some years ago by their captors, is searching for his long lost daughter who was taken in a raid.

The night was uneventful; the town was unusually hushed, likely by the events of the previous day. The party set out in the morning, attempting to track the goblinoid warband through the wilderness north of Brindol. The party made excellent time and within a few hours arrived at the location on the map marked by the hobgoblin prisoner. Not detecting any nearby goblinoids, our party headed along the mountain trail and stumbled right into a kruthik nest(that hobgoblin soooo punk'd them).

Kruthik, two adult and two youth, emerged from underneath a boulder a ways up the trail; the two youths engaged immediately while the two adults hung back. Beana immediately noticed some loose topsoil and detected what was likely open space immediately underneath it. The combat unfolded too quickly, however, and Bullroarer discovered that Beana's observation was correct; he fell into a shallow pit underneath a second patch of loose topsoil. Pulling himself out a moment later, Bullroarer rushed right back into action.

Lucas decided a good course of action would be to side-flank or rear-flank the monsters; he rushed toward the western ridge and successfully was atop it on the same round. He noticed what appeared to be a nest, on the edge of the ridge about mid-way up. Executing precisely the level of stealth and subtlety that Goliaths are known for, he went tromping right up the nest, agitating the four kruthik hatchlings inside it.

(About this time the power goes out and we have to light candles to keep the session going)

Blake employed his Lance of Faith™ ability to obliterate his foes. Unfortunately for him, the kruthiks' reflexes were sufficient to dodge. His faith projectiles landed harmlessly in a couple patches of grass, which consequently shown a little brighter than normal. Besides that, any additional effects on the grass were not tested.

Once again, defining the extreme that is 'dwarfy', Rock attempted to leap across a patch of loose top soil. Floating along the air precisely like a bag of bricks does, he fell short of his mark and fell into a shallow pit. Not satisfied with simply climbing out like the 'other races' would, Rock attempted(twice) to jump out of the five foot pit; he was not successful(twice). Both attempts to jump resulted in Rock's body colliding with the pit wall; the second attempt causing some of the dirt to collapse, providing a steep path out(difficult terrain). Amused by his frustrations, The Gods bestowed a title upon him: Dirt Slayer.

While Lucas contended with the four hatchlings, the adults sprung into action in order to save their offspring. The main party was able to intercept one adult while the other managed to engage Lucas directly. Finally the battle was going in their favor; one of the kruthik adults was close to death and only one hatchling remained. What happened next was really just a blur, but our heroes were victorious and the enemy lay slain upon earth. Don't ask about it; seriously.

----------------------------

How many monster nests need to be cleared before they catch up with the retreating Goblinoid forces?
Will they live to see level 2?
Grilled cheese or Peanut Butter and Jelly?
Will the power hold for our next session?

These questions and more answered next time.

Rescue at Rivenroar - Night 1

----------------------------

Adventurers:

Beana - Elf Ranger
Blake - Deva Cleric
Bullroarer - Threequarterling Warden
Gigantor - Goliath Barbarian
Lucas - Goliath Barbarian
Rocknrolla - Dwarf Fighter

----------------------------

The adventure kicked off in the Antlers and Thistle tavern, in the town of Brindol. It was an unusually boring afternoon at the tavern in which the tavern's patrons did absolutely no talking to each other. >:P

Before the PCs were able to muster anything resembling roleplaying, the main door flew off its hinges and hobgoblins began to pour in; 3 local patrons were immediately killed. Springing to action, our heroes saved a few of the surviving patrons and most of the building (there was that odd hobgoblin shaped hole in the east wall that showed up sometime after Bullroarer disappeared; paper mache should make for a quick fix).

Possibly answering the call of battle, but more likely the call of cheap booze and wenches, Blake arrived on the scene mid-brawl. His healer instincts raging, he charged into battle with the cry "Who has the lowest HP?!?!?!".

Rock (Rocknrolla) thought it wise to put his weapon in the barbecue pit in the center of the tavern; what dwarfs do is just hard to understand sometimes.

Edit: About the same time that Bullroarer disappeared in a puff of magic, some freaky mutated goat arrived at the scene. Fortunately for the local tavern patrons, the goat appears to have been trained in some unusual martial arts. The goat was unavailable for comment afterward.

Following the bar brawl, for reasons unknown to the others, Gigantor engaged in hostilities with the barkeep of the Antler and Thistle. The quick thinking and long-winded speaking of Beana convinced Gigantor to reconsider (or reschedule?) his hostilities against the humble barkeep.

After a short respite (here that means "rest" for those of you who were dropped on your heads as kids), a man who appeared to be a regular in the town watch (you might think this will become important later, but it won't) arrived at the scene. The town was under attack! The corpses of the slain hobgoblins bore an insignia resembling that of The Red Hand (you might think won't become important later, but it will).

Moments later, shouts of scared serfs sounded from up the street. As the peasants ran past, our heroes rushed outside just in time to see an ogre, yoked to a cart carrying casks of pitch and two armed hobgoblins. As he rounded the corner he threw a single lit cask at the heroes. Naturally the ogre's projectile neither hit its target or followed its intended course (Obidiah Johnson's Dry Goods store will never be the same).

Perhaps driven by fantasies of a life as a firefighter, Lucas sprung to action at the first sight of the fire. Being the only one of our heroes to identify the real threat to the town, he hurriedly extinguished as much fire as his strong, water-soaked body could manage.

Rushing to action, Bullroarer immediately closed to melee range with the ogre. Frustrated, the ogre began to take mighty swings with his (insert crude, large, and intimidating weapon here). During the fight that ensued, Bullroarer managed to knock one of the hobgoblins onto a pile of pitch casks. The hobgoblin (and Bullroarer) didn't know it, but somebody set up him the pitch cask.

Gigantor, after a brief session of people watching, saw it prudent to lob his lantern into the corner of the tavern (the corner closest to the cart carrying the pitch casks). In this he succeeded, and the fire from his improvised lantern grenade quickly spread through the building and towards the cart.

In a move which could only be called "dwarfy", Rock leaped up onto the pitch cart (this Dwarf got game) and took a swing at an unlit pitch cask. Normally the cask would merely spill harmlessly into the cart, but Rock's axe was still burning hot from the tavern's barbecue pit. The cask exploded almost instantly causing massive damage to all nearby.

After a chain explosion of the entire load of pitch casks, the cart was no more, Bullroarer was incapacitated, and nearly everyone else nearby was bloodied. The hobgoblin that was atop the pile of pitch casks was shot high into the sky by a cask explosion; he was a little confused but nonetheless enjoying a rare bird's eye view of Brindol. The moment was short lived, however, as gravity passed its strength check (DC: 15) and the hobgoblin promptly returned back to the scene of the encounter.

Freed of the burden of the cask cart, and seeing that his allies had been slain (more specifically, compacted into a fine paste), the ogre attempted to flee down a nearby alley. Moving to intercept, Lucas and Gigantor succeeded at cutting off his escape; the ogre was slain and the heroes once again had triumphed.

--------------------------

Who or what is attacking fair Brindol?
Can our heroes save the day?
Why is Gigantor making that face at me?
Do the pictures help or do they annoy?

All these answered and more next time; stay tuned for our next adventure.