On The Road Again

September 22, 2011

The group heads to the gate and meets Shella there.  William spent the night trying to pop a lock he bought and continues to try and do so as they are traveling.  Shella knows which way to go and has a horse, which prompts the group to get their own and then head out.  As they travel, Elthieren starts asking Shell about magic and is quite condescending to her about what she knows, comparing it to an elf child.  Shella avoids any more questions from him. 

They travel the rest of the day and it’s a bit cool but nothing happens.  They set up camp and have watches.  William, not used to camping, jumps at everything he hears but the group teaches him what to listen for on his watch and Elthieren is up with him as well.  Probably good or William would have woken the group up several times. 

As they travel the next day, they notice some bugbears in hiding.  As the group reacts, a bugbear approaches them and asks if they are Qynn or Peleasenois?  Qynn steps forward and introduces himself, wanting to cut down the bugbear.  The bugbear pulls out a scroll tube, which Qynn notices has the mark the cult of Asmodeus was using on the cap, and has a scroll.  Elthieren uses mage hand to pull out the scroll.  Reading it sets off the trap and magic flares up.  At the same time, the bugbears attack!

Paelius realizes that the magic was part of a ritual to mark the targets of a ritual.  He and Elthieren manage to shunt the magic back into the scroll.  Meanwhile, Thorgal and Qynn attack the bugbears as the bugbears close from two sides.  William is hit hard and goes down but does recover and join back in the fight.  Shella drops several and then concentrates her magic missiles on the tougher bugbears. 

Paelius grabs the magic from the scrolls and empowers his attack, slamming the energy into a bugbear.  However, it’s a tough one and takes what would have killed most.  Qynn and Thorgal are surrounded but give as good as they get.  The bugbears don’t go down easily.  They take down Thorgal but Qynn manages to heal him.  The bugbears work on the others but when it’s two on six, the bugbears didn’t have a chance.  Soon it’s over and the group catches it’s breath. 

William isn’t sure if he should be happy or more scared!  He’s exhilarated that he survived but also was quite shaken at having to fight the bugbears.  While he has been out of town on several occasions, he’s obviously never faced anything like that!  Shella is also quite happy with how she did but is refusing to look at Elthieren, who had said to her that now she would prove herself as the combat began. 

The group grabs what the bugbears have, William getting several extra weapons, and finding a lot of gold trade bars.  The stamp that made them was removed somehow but several of the group think they see the mark of Lord Szest Ducast on them.  They aren’t happy but grab the bars and keep going. 

After a few more hours, they see the remnants of a caravan but Qynn detects movement in it.  As they get closer, they see a troll chewing on some bodies.  William nearly loses his breakfast and Shella looks away.  Qynn is ready to behead the troll when it sees them and turns around.

“Qynn,” the troll shouts.  “It is good to see you again.  I am trying to follow Torm as you taught me but it’s hard.  Can you again teach me more?  I don’t I remember everything.” 

Qynn, and the group, just stare at the troll.  Memories well up in Qynn about having met a troll and teaching him about Torm.  Then flashes of traveling the planes, especially the feywild, and a fortress. 

“I didn’t kill!  They dead already!  I follow Torm but eating only dead!” 

Qynn backs off as he realizes this is true and takes the troll off to the side to talk about Torm.  The group searches the caravan.  This is the correct caravan and there are several bodies but Shella says none are her brother.  About half of the supplies are still in the wagons.  The group takes them and repacks them onto other wagons.  Looking around, the group sees the blood trail that is heading toward the coast.  They talk about leaving someone behind to guard the wagons but it’s been like that for hours, if not longer, and hasn’t had any problems.  They also don’t want to split the party.  All of them, including the troll, follow the path.  The troll can smell the blood and so helps the group stay on course. 

Qynn again spots the motion of someone, probably a sentry, going to the cliff and swinging over, probably on a rope as they approach the cliffs.  As they get closer, a tiefling pops out and starts trying to make idle chat with them.  However, the group is quite intimidating, especially the troll, and after some “coercion” the tiefling does reveal himself as a worshipper of Asmodeus and tries to call upon Asmodeus to help him.  It doesn’t work. 

The rope leads down to a ledge, about thirty five feet down, and the group slowly makes their way down.  It’s an easy climb with the rope and hand holds that have been created but the ledge itself is quite slippery and several of the group almost slide off!  When William goes to climb down, he loses his grip on the rope but does manage to land on the ledge and Thorgal helps keep him there but they both fall prone and are scrambling.  Paelius made it in the cave only to be attacked by tieflings and a human.  He’s able to hold them off for the rest of the group to arrive. 

The group hears chanting and realize the ritual is happening.  They manage to finish off this group and rush into a larger cave.  Some guards are standing between them and another group of tieflings and a human who are doing the ritual.  It’s not Lord Szest Ducast but they know they don’t have much time to stop the ritual.  Several of the group rush forward, attacking the tieflings and leaving the guards to others.  William and Shella help get rid of them and let the others forward into the cave. 

This group fares no better than any other group and soon the ritual is disrupted, the casters book having been cut to ribbons.  After that, it was merely the formality of helping the cultists go to their master.  Qynn spots the secret door and the group knows they aren’t done. 

800 xp

GM Notes

• I was rolling for “random” encounters and did it in front of the group.  One player was dismayed at the lack of encounters but one did eventually happen. 
• The NPCs were fun.  And, again, I’m torn.  I don’t want the NPCs to overshadow the PCs but they also can’t be so bad that they aren’t helpful.  So, the NPCs did kill many creatures and were the targets of attacks, about like the PCs. 
• I’m not very good at typing accents.  So, in playing the troll, he spoke broken English but for some reason, I’m not able to write it at this moment.   
• The troll was a lot of fun to play!
• The descent to the ledge was hilarious!  The group isn’t particularly good at climbing, i.e. Athletics, and so there were some very tense moments of trying to get to the ledge safely.  William almost didn’t make it.   
• Wow!  Several in the group advanced to fifth level.  I didn’t think they were that close since they had only recently made fourth level.  I’m trying to slow down advancement a bit so it isn’t so fast but it’s a balance.  Low levels aren’t fun as they don’t have tons of choices, but I still don’t want it to be fast.  However, I’m fine with them getting to fifth level. 

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