Session 6

On November 4^th, we met for Session 6. Everyone but Adam (Ash, shadow elf ninja) was here. The party included Lisa (Sydney Swann, swashbuckler), Barry (Reggie, ogre monk), Kevin (Clint Carver, butcher, epicurean), Caleb (Powder, wizard), Phil (Finnegan Longstride, halfling cleric of The Stranger), Bonnie, (Grizena Hemmingsworth, half-ogre barbarian), and Mike (Humphrey Hemmingsworth, holy warrior). Ash asked me to run Powder as an NPC.

After spending a lot of the last session shopping, meeting NPCs in town who were unfriendly or unhelpful, and then establishing a camp at the abandoned monastery along the road to the caves of Bale Valley, the party was pretty anxious to go attack some evil creatures and take their stuff.

Packing up the remaining owlbear steak and other supplies, the heros make for the valley. It is still morning when they arrive. They see the caves they saw before, although the platforms with the skulls are now empty. Instead, animal claws hang from the platform, which Humphrey judges to be a marginal but real improvement in decor. He directs the party to the cave with the neat piles next to it, including one pile that is obviously feces. From the point that this pile is identified, this cave is known to the party as “The Poop Cave.”

As the party approaches the cave entrance, they see another group approaching the cave, too. Four kobolds are coming to the cave with a wheelbarrow and gardening tools (which could certainly be polearms if they are held the right way). The party kicks into kill made and slaughters the four kobolds. The kobolds, for their part, don't have time to realize that they should run. Tossing the bodies to the side, the party cursorily examines the vegetables the kobolds were carrying in the wheelbarrow (a whole lot of beets). They enter the cave, with Ash scouting ahead.

The walls of the cave are painted up to a height of about four feet above the floor, with scenes of crudely drawn kobolds and other demi-humans. Some scenes show the kobolds carrying things under the supervision of orcs or goblins, while others show hunting scenes, or fighting scenes. Some paintings illustrate kobolds cutting the throats of apparently unconscious humans, goblins, elves, and dwarves. The floor is packed clay with splatters of paint along the base the the walls.

Ash disappears into the darkness as the rest of the party pulls weapons and advances slowly behind him. Some sharp noises up ahead followed by silence cause Sydney, Clint, and Finn to rush forward. Finn's candle shows a slice in the floor, revealing that it is a tarp stretched over a pit, covered with a thin layer of clay. On the opposite side of the tarp, there is a raised platform with a low wall. To either side of the trap, wide halls with low ceilings extend at 90 degrees to the left and right. The party carefully steps past the corner of the pit trap to the right, and circle it toward the platform. Shallow steps lead up to a waist-high area. On the platform are two dead kobolds, one with a cut throat, the other with a stab wound to the eye. Powder says that Ash has clearly marked the trap and dispatched the guards, but he may be in trouble. Some of the others question why he failed to rejoin them after doing so, but they agree to move on. The party elects to stay together, and follows the corridor that branched right.

The tunnel opens after some distance, into a larger tunnel that offers a choice between continuing in the same direction and turning left. The party goes straight. The wide tunnel comes to an abrupt end, with a narrow passage going onward. Finn and Powder examine this passageway, finding small holes along the left wall. Pushing his staff into the floor ahead of him, Finn triggers a mechanism that shoots a heavy dart across the passageway. He bends his head a bit lower, and Powder walks along behind him in a low squat. Above them, darts shoot every few seconds, hitting the opposite wall.

After a few yards, the two emerge from this narrow place into a much bigger cavern. Flinn's candle illuminates a wall that continues forward on their left, and the wall extending away to their right, so that they seem to be in a corner of a room, but the light doesn't reach far enough to tell them more. Powder decides that he would like to see just what is happening here. He warns Finn, then lowers his goggles over his eyes and casts a Continual Light Spell, brightening everything as if it were noon. They see a couple dozen kobolds arranged behind overturned tables ahead of them across a large room. The kobolds are all clamping their own eyes shut, as well, some shrieking in surprise.

Sydney rushes through the narrow space, as a few last darts ping against stone behind him. Humphrey, Reggie, and Grizena follow. As Humphrey and Reggie charge straight at the kobold, Sydney dashes to the right, seeking to circle the barricade they've built. Finn walks forward, blinking, and flips a table in front of him to act as cover. Powder also makes for the kobolds, casting as he walks. Reggie forms up on him while Grizena hangs back with Finn. She removes her falcon's hood, and Peekaboo lifts from her arm.

Sydney gets to the flank and engages some kobolds, who are beginning to recover. The start to swarm around him, but he simply slashes and stabs, dropping four of the enemy in short order. Humphrey charges at the center, sword raised, but trips on a small chair and falls face forward. Kobolds swarm over him, stabbing. Reggie and Powder make their way into the room. Reggie disarms clots of kobolds. Powder casts reverse missile, then wall of lightning to split the group of kobolds in half. Some of the kobolds are injured by the wall of lightning, and fall back, while others leap forward to be free of it. Peekaboo finds himself on the far side of the lightning, and continues to claw at kobolds as he flies by them. As Powder leaps forward to whack a kobold with his staff, he trips on a piece of broken furniture and sprawls face first on the floor. Grizena and Finn work their way forward through the tables and chairs more slowly, to join the fight. Finn takes hold of his holy symbol and closes his eyes, praying, while Grizena starts swinging her axe at the kobolds attacking Humphrey. Humphrey struggles to his feet as he is jabbed at repeatedly by the kobolds. While his armor and poor aim from the kobolds protect him from the worst of it, he does receive some minor wounds.

Sydney continues racking up a body count, closing toward the cluster of enemies around Humphrey and Grizena. Humphrey and Grizena start killing kobolds, hacking furiously with greatsword and axe. Finn finishes praying to the Stranger, opens his eyes, and looks at one the kobolds near Reggie, who is then charred by the Gaze of the Stranger.

The kobolds panic and try to flee. There is nowhere for them to go, however, and the party isn't inclined to let any live. The fighters finish up the survivors, as they cower in the corners of the room. Grizena turns to a last group just as Ash enters the room and chucks an acid grenade into the crowd of huddled kobolds.

As the party looks at him in astonishment, he shrugs and says, “You guys should've gone left at the pit trap. Always keep turning left.”

Grizena turns to him, “Oh, is that our rule? I thought it was 'always keep to the right,' but I guess we were all confused, and you remembered.”

Sydney is more interested in collecting kobold ears. He manages to snip ears from 11 kobolds while the others calm down. Several of the dead are charred too badly to harvest the ears, though he tries. Grizena hoods Peekaboo as everyone cleans the blood from their weapons.

Ash reports that if the others had followed him (as he assumed they would), they would have found a small group of guards, who Ash tried talking to. When they proved unwilling to be nice, he killed them and explored further. He found a sort of workshop, but a cursory search revealed it to be a dead end, so he came back to see what was taking everyone so long. He heard the racket that they were making, followed, and arrived in time to see the end of the fight.

Finn and Humphrey exchange a look. “That's the longest I have ever heard you speak, and the most clear information you have ever volunteered. Are you really Ash, or some kind of imposter?”

The party explores onward. Returning to the large hallway, they take the branch no one has explored yet. A dozen or so yards along, they find an alcove in the wall on the left, with a sturdy wooden door. Ash sets to picking the heavy lock. Just as he gets the tumblers tripped, a pi swings down and stabs his hand. He stumbles back, holding his pricked hand tightly with his other hand.

Suddenly, he lurches, saying “I have to get outside, outta my way.” Finn sees that his hand is swelling rapidly as he tries to shove through the group. He takes hold of Ash's injured hand, and says a quick prayer. The swelling immediately begins to go down, and Ash drops to sit against a wall.

Finn looks into his eyes and says, “I think you understand where this leaves us.”

Ash closes his eyes and nods. “I am faithful in my debts, as you will discover.” Even in grudgingly expressing gratitude, Ash somehow seems to be making a threat.

The group looks into the room behind the door. Inside, the see crates and barrels, bolts of cloth and bundles of fur. They pop open a crate, and puzzle for a while over that it contains until someone realizes that there are a couple hundred sticks of sealing wax individually wrapped in paper. Other crates contain candlesticks and goblets. They appear to have found a store room full of luxury goods. Grizena finds a long coil of rope, tightly woven from a silky fiber. It is mildly reflective, and when she pulls on a bit of it, seems very strong for its thinness. She slips the rope into her pack.

“Hmm, elven rope?” wonders Humphrey.

“Who are these people we are killing,” wonders Clint quietly.

“Creatures of evil that must be destroyed,” answers Humphrey, closing a crates.

Finn nods in agreement. “They don't deserve our mercy. This is all likely stolen from good people. Let's move on, we can come back for this stuff. I'll stay up front with Ash, just in case.”

As the two lead off, the party follows the big tunnel as it turns further to the right. All along the left wall, from a couple of feet up to near the ceiling, there are holes. The holes are all around 18 inches wide, and round. The paint between these holes seems more worn, as if it has been subject to something rubbing against it.

As Ash and Fin carefully examine the first of these holes, Finn discovers a floor trap, a weak spot that breaks away to reveal a barbed hole perfect for catching a foot. Tapping carefully, they find and mark many more foot traps, working their way forward. After a few dozen yards, they find another large room, partitioned from the corridor by a heavy curtain.

Beyond the curtain, Ash and Finn discover a deserted, well built throne room, with un-mortared stone walls. The stones are cut with precision and care. The search this room, and report back to the rest of the party.

When Finn and Ash return and describe the empty throne room, the party decides to secure the cave, leave half the party as guards, and send the rest back to town to get a wagon to haul the goods from the store room back. Humphrey, Ash, Finn, and Sydney will return to hire a wagon, while Powder, Clint, Grizena, and Reggie will remain to guard the cave.

On the road back to Broder Keep, the four come upon a scene of a robbery. Two horses lie dead in the road, where they were pulling a cart. A merchant is slumped forward from the cart's bench, and two swordsmen lie dead nearby. Four men are examining the cart's contents and collecting small bags of rice from it into satchels they carry. Ash slips off to the right side of the road, while Humphrey, Sydney, and Finn all make for the cart directly. When they get to about 50 feet away, the men on the cart notice them. Two immediately run to the woods on the right side of the road, while the other two drawn short swords and advance.

Sydney dispatches one swordsman quickly, while Humphrey fights the other. Finn takes cover behind the cart, as arrows fly at him and Humphrey. Humphrey is hit by an arrow, but continues swinging at the swordsman before him. Sydney runs around the cart to get at the man, and Finn pops up to try to find where the archers are hiding among the trees. Locating one, rushes forward to engage him at close range. As Humphrey finally manages to score a powerful blow to the swordsman he is fighting, he is hit by another arrow. He staggers to his knees, but sees where the second archer is, and points him out to the others. Finn and Sydney close some more distance while one of the archers pulls a sword and drops his bow. Sydney reaches the archers before Finn, and kills the one who has drawn his sword, just as Ash appears behind the last of the four, garroting him.

“Good thing that you managed to kill him so quietly, before he could alert his companions or hurt anyone,” grumbles Humphrey, pulling an arrow from his armor.

“You are most welcome,” answers Ash.

After looking at the cart to see if it might be useful to them, the four decide that it is too small to carry everything from the Poop Cave back to Broder, and in any case, they would need new animals to pull it. They continue on their way, watching the trees warily.

They arrive at Broder's gate shortly before it is closed for the night, and head to their rooms at the inn to rest, except for Finn, who elects to sleep in front of the church.

Back at the cave, Powder, Grizena, Reggie, and Clint make a small meal, camped on the platform overlooking the pit trap near the cave entrance, and tell stories until they become tired. Posting watches, the take turns sleeping through the night.