October 18th, 1084 Korlai Reckoning.
Recap written by Vic
Characters:
Krusher as "Dagnos"
Omegaman as "Elcid"
Vic as "Honey"
Teragen as "Bea"
void as "Ofydd"
The Giantslayers (Offyd, Bea, Elcid, Dagnos, and Honey) heard that Kip Ironhead’s party largely died and/or gotten captured by some type of Beastmen: four legged, two armed creatures that wield weapons and have a stinger tail that has poison. One of them had some kind of disintegration ray as well. The Giantslayers decided to obtain some universal antidote, and recruited a number of hirelings: three Fighters (Steven, Rick, and Douglas), as well as a Magic-User (Michael, Sr.). Nobody in town knew anything about this (Peter in the Church; Jack in Fighter’s guild; and Frank at the Mage’s Guild).
Jack was very concerned; he’s never heard of these beastmen. Peter was still upset about his friends who died, has never heard of these beastmen, but indicated he would buy any artifacts that we find. Frank questioned the validity of the rumor—this is nearly unheard of. He has only seen goblins and orcs that can use magic, never beastmen. Frank will pay in full for any magic items. Rick is a spearman, Douglas is an axeman, and Steven is an archer.
When we got to the temple, there were obvious fresh tracks leading up to the area, up to the temple, up to the gray stone hut/graveyard area, and the two farmhouses (both in disrepair). One no longer has a front door. The Giantslayers peeked inside the one with the missing door, saw straw flooring, an oven on one side, a table, and some open doors (pantry, bedroom). Honey kicked some straw around.
In the other farmhouse, we find the most obvious trapdoor—a circular shaft with a barrel lid with debris on top. There are some tracks and blood around it, which appear to be humanoid. Honey and Dagnos went down, and the lights went out (continual light stone and the Rod of Light.)
Down from ladder, L shaped area, there are three doors, one door on the right, left there are two (one on either side of the wall). The doors are six yards away.
One of the Dwarves sees that there is a cold pile of dust next to one of the doors, like a mound of dust. That is in front of the door on the right, which is open. We can also see some dried blood on the floor near the pile of dust. Dagnos peeks around it and it looks like a chapel, with nothing in it. Quite boring. Six pews and an altar, with a sheet of white cloth. Dagnos can also see further down the hallway, the remnants of a door that exploded, like someone hit it with a fireball.
We investigated the altar room. The voices start to go further away. The fireball door looks like it leads into a latrine with some toilets and wood splinters.
The party encountered six gnolls drinking and partying, who do not immediately attack. Dagnos motions to them, asking for beer, and he gets some. Bea tried to cast a spell, but it did not work. Bea used chalk to draw prisoners, and they nodded, and then pointed to the left of the door, and shrugs. Bea gives them a thumbs up, and then goes on a long rant in some language, and gives us a thumbs up. Bea gives them a ration each, and they go back to drinking. As the Giantslayers leave, six more gnolls come, bearing a keg.
They saw a concealed door down a side passage, and opening it found a room with a pedestal, that had gold and gems on it. While they were on the threshold of the room, they got attacked by some invisible things, but they backed off. Instead of taking the passage to the northwest, they went through an illusionary wall that led to stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, there was a door, and inside of it was two huge frogs—the size of dogs. They spit at Honey and Dagnos, and Honey felt very sick (DX-2). Dagnos and the archer shot one, then they found another, and then another. There were a number of gold pieces (52) scattered around, and they scooped them up.
Further exploration of a cave system led to a door, and the door smelled like cinnamon. As the Giantslayers tried to figure out what that meant, Elcid opened the door, and saw two four-legged two-armed things that were carrying wands. They each shot three rays at Elcid, who got hit by several. Unfortunately, he—and everything he was carrying—got disintegrated. Dagnos threw an axe at one, and they slammed the door shut. Two of the hirelings ran off, but the magic user and spear wielder stayed.
Honey organized an ambush, and Bea cast Shield+3 on both Honey and Dagnos. When the monsters opened the door, Honey attacked its arm (which was holding a sword now), Offyd stabbed it, and Rick really stabbed it hard. Dagnos threw a sleep potion, knocking one out. The remaining one bit Offyd, tried to cut Honey (but failed), and it stared at (and charmed) Bea. Shortly after that, Dagnos threw another axe, and Honey slashed it and killed it. Bea then ran straight toward Dagnos and tried to attack him! This broke the Amulet of Bless, however, and Bea snapped out of the trance.
She then decapitated the sleeping one. They found another dead one, and two dead adventurers, as well as a chest with 68 gp plus 9 gems worth 58 gp. They have broadswords, it looked like mithril, but it is case-hardened steel or something; they were a vibrant, rippling blue ferrous metal.
It was not a normal construction, looking like a LotR Elven sword. They had weird wands too, which looked quite strange. Bea ruined one of them by pouring holy water on it. The party took the stinger of one of them and one of the bodies back to town. They made Steven and Douglas haul it back, the penalty for running when things got tough.
They were a big hit in town, and one of the wizards agreed to pay 10 platinum pieces for the loot, and ran off (he later found out that they were neither magical or holy). Honey paid 25 sp to have her poison effects removed.
Each surviving party member made about 54gp in loot (Honey gave 10gp of hers away, split between Buckles and Plinker).
Author's Notes
Omegaman has THE WORST LUCK. He has had one character die in one session (Grimnir), and two characters (Kojack, Elcid (Sid)) survived one session only to get killed in the next. If either Buckles or Honey goes out next time with his new character, they are paying for Bless on him. That would have saved him, to be sure.
Not sure I ever got the description of these scorpion-like beastmen. They were weird. Their weapons did not show up as magical. Is it some alien technology?
GM's Notes
Wow. Apparently, throwing enemies which can possess a RoF 3 Wand of Disintegration will cause death. However, they don't always use them, so that is good at least. They weren't able to use it, though, so they can't use whatever they found against their own people. They also think they found the butchered corpses of the other party, but they aren't sure.
I didn't do a full editing pass on this, so if anyone in the party spots any inconsistencies, shoot a comment below and I can fix it. We also might be getting some new players soon!
Character Advancement
+2pts from Loot
+1pt from Roleplay
+2pts from Exploration
+0pts from Freeing Prisoners
+2 Bonus Points to Omegaman for being a) the first player to have a character die in three sessions in a row and b) being the first character to get disintegrated.
-1pt from Elcid dying.
Total: +5 points to all but Omegaman, who gets 2pts.
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