Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...
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Session 104 - 19th of December, 1398
This week's adventurers:
Mayfly (Magician 6)
Ulf (Magician 5)
Liminal Space (Changeling 5)
Thekla (Magician 4)
Poppy (Fighter 4)
Hirelings: Hanslo, Alke (Fighter 1), Elbel, Enderl, Kirsten
Downtime in the Village
Ulf hires a woman-at-arms, Alke, to bolster the fighting ranks of our party. Mayfly likewise hires a trio of peasants to... carry stuff, I guess. They are Elbel, Enderl, and Kirsten.
This week, we decide to head out into the wilderness in search of Ulf's missing Shawl of Protection, lost to bandits in a drunken carousing incident in Lychgate.
Woodsmen have informed us that a group of bandits have moved closer to the village, near a bend in the river just south of town.
The werewolf-like creatures known as Dogheads have also been sighted in the region.
Finally, one after the other, three headless black cockerels have appears on the doorstep of Sir Albrecht, Lord of Nightwick.We're sure this won't lead to anything bad (for us, at least).
Into the Dark Country
We buy a week's worth of rations for the party and backpacks for our peasants and set out from Nightwick village at dawn.
We set out east from the village, along the river into the Fogbound Forest and follow it as it bends south.
The ground is covered in snow and ice and travel on foot is slow through the woods.
The sun in the Fogbound Forest appears to continually be in a state of dawn or dusk, making it useless for telling time or navigation.
Rock & Roll
A cold fog settles in around us late in the morning and we hear boisterous singing off in the distance.
Mayfly recognizes the voices as belonging to Groans. Tall, tree-like creatures that Mayfly has previously blown up with Fireball when fighting the fey forces of the White Lady.
The singing stops, but we cannot see anything through the fog just yet. Three chest-sized boulders come whistling out of the mist, hitting Liminal and Poppy and caving in Alke's chest, killing her instantly.
The party scatters behind trees while Mayfly casts Mirror Image for protection.
We're at a loss for how to fight the Groans when we can't see them through the mist.
Mayfly whispers something into his pocket and sends his familiar out. A moment later, three groans are magically outlined to us in a pinkish fire.
As the Groans approach, two of them throw more rocks at Mayfly, wiping out two of his fake selves.
Mayfly casts Fireball, sending a shattering of splinters into the air, but all three stay standing.
Ulf follows up with Lightning Bolt, killing two of them; leaving the final one standing.
Diplomacy?
It taunts us and calls us cowards through the mists.
Thekla casts Phantasmal Force to make the final Groan think it had been hit by another Fireball and it falls down unconscious, thinking it had died.
Poppy holds their sword, the Shard of Law over the creature's neck while Liminal kicks it awake.
We begin negotiations, at swordpoint, with the creature, whose name is Thorn, offering to spare its life in exchange of a later boon.
To seal the deal, we offer up Alke's body as sustenance to the creature, who eats it messily in front of us and our horrified hirelings.
Travels and Rain
A deal having been made, we continue onward towards the south.
Around what should be noon, it begins to rain. It is very cold and we know in a few hours it will begin to freeze.
We make camp and light a fire to stay warm and the rain turns to a soft snow overnight.
During the night, while on watch, Liminal Space sees a number of camp fires to the south - surely the bandit camp!
Early in the morning, Mayfly again uses his familiar to highlight the bandit camp for us, which we can now magically see through the trees.
We process south and soon see three men, in leather armor holding swords, ahead of us 90'.
The Bandits' Keep
Liminal attempts to parlay with them, but the quickly flee though the woods in the direction of the camp.
We follow after them and soon make it to the edge of the camp.
In the clearing are a number of temporary housing structures and several walls, not entirely encircling the camp but meant to channel us into certain choke points.
We see the three men encountered earlier running up to a group of 10 more men.
Liminal notices that two of them are Devilmen.
Upon seeing the sight that he saw, Liminal Space immediately casts Sleep - sending all but one of the Devilmen to sleep.
Thekla follows up with a Charm spell, enchanting the Devilman.
As we approach the mostly sleeping group, we see and hear more movement coming from deeper in the camp.
Monsters and Treasure
We see 2-3 handfuls of people coming out and hear a loud shriek coming from the main building, as if from a ghastly crone.
We see a rather attractive Bogdani woman coming out of the building, where the shriek came from.
Ulf, Poppy, Hanslo, and Kirsten all fall under her spell as they lay eye upon her, Charmed.
The witch gestures at the rest of the party and orders the charmed members to "rid me of this filth."
The party members manage to resist the command, mainly because they really don't want to kill their friends in their heart of hearts (the command went too far against their alignments).
Mayfly shoots off a Lightning Bolt at the woman and hits her and several bandits behind her.
As she is hit, her appearance briefly shifts to that of a hideous crone.
Six bandits remain - one devilman among them.
Next round, they fire a volley of arrows against us
Three arrows all hit Ulf! For 8 damage! WTF
The woman disappears and suddenly appears at our front line. She swipes out at Liminal, which tears into him with a supernatural force. - He takes 15 damage, leaving him at 3hp!
Mayfly casts Fireball, aiming between the woman and the remaining group of bandits - killing all except the Devilman, including the woman.
Poppy shoots arrows at the retreating Devilman, killing him as he flees.
Worried about more bandits on patrol coming home, we decide to loot the camp and run.
In the main building, we find Ulf's Shawl of Protection and 3,390sp worth of jewels and gems!
We also find two potions which are later identified as a Potion of Healing and a Potion of Control Human.
It's Called Treasuremaxxing
On our way out of the camp, Mayfly and Liminal Space stop to cut off the hag's fingers, in case if they have magical properties.
In the end, we each receive 1,158xp and 678sp and a total of 10 fingers.
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