Ep17 ended with our Adventurers taking refuge in a cavern room with three captive humans after defeating the male Troll and battling a Begwurm. The Adventurers are battle-weary, battered and sore. ________________________________ The Party decides to immediately leave the mines with Tados in the lead. Being the least injured, ad with a PERC17, he easily remembers the way out and
they make their way back to the bloodied camp. At
the camp Tados gives healing to noblewoman which brings her out of unconsciousness, as the others begin to
settle from the recent activity in the mine. Jett
is pulled aside by the soldier who asks him if the group would consider going
after a noble called Yeoman that was with them but fled when the Trolls attacked. He says he wants Yeoman found beause he believes that the noble may have had something to do with the Trolls taking attacking the camp as he was easily able to escape when the other three were not able to. Jett informs him that they intend to go to Ealinor first as they
have an important task to complete. He asks the soldier what Yeoman looks like and is told
that he is thin with dark hair and was wearing fine clothing of blue and yellow. With a his roll of WIS18 Jett recalls the noble they passed in the
ruined village and sold the pony to. He tells the soldier that they saw Yeoman and
that he was heading to Larton. The soldier thanks him and says he will send a
soldier from Cluistead after him. The soldier then asks for help setting up the
canvas tent for them to sleep in out of the rain. Before
going to sleep Jett sends a message to Phil telling him to look out for the noble
and put a tail on him so they know where he is headed. As he finally goes to
sleep, Jett hears a voice calling his name and sits up. The voice is not external but is inside his head and as he
replies, his mind is transcended to another plane where he sees a vision of the
face of his family friend, Ryo. Ryo is visually fearful and asks where Jett is.
After Jett replies, Ryo asks him how long will it be until he returns as things
are getting worse in the homeland. There are more Drow in the city and the
overrun council is powerless. More Elves are being taken into capitivity and
slavery as a result of the Drow incursion. He ends by saying that Jett needs to return
quickly and save his people. As the connection fades Ryo repeats “hurry”. Coming
back to the present, Jett is shaken by the vision and goes to sleep troubled,
with a vow to heighten his efforts to get back home and save his people. Catsi
– lethargic and weary from a lvl3 exhaustion (used frenzy three times) – curls
up in the tent next to the noblemn they saved. The noble, confued by her actions, shuffes
aside but Catsi moves with him. He noble gives in and lets her curl up to
him. Tados
and Bardryn settle in for the night and turn to sleep. The
next morning they hitch the carts from the camp to their horses. The Nobles and soldier in one, with Catsi – now lvl2 exhaustion - and Bardryn in the other, Tados and Jett riding the horses. They make thier way for Cluistead with Tados in the lead. As
they travel the first hour with ease (NAT21) Tados begins talking to the nobleman, asking where he
came from etc. The nobleman does not
answer as he is focusssed on his wife but then she says in a soft voice “stop
being rude, answer the man” after which the nobleman tells Tados his name is Gawen
Uglow and his wife is Brithael. He is a tailor in Ealinor and runs his own
business. Tados becomes interested in this and asks if he can commission
some clothing to which the female replies “For all your help and healing, you can have
anything at half cost”. The man begins to argue but the female tells him to shut
up. Two
more success NAT rolls sees the group enter Cluistead around midday. Everyone
immediately heads for the Inn where they procure rooms for themselves. Catsi and Tados get a room with a bath so they can tidy themselves up while Jett, Bardryn and
Tados head to the market to sell and buy. Catsi does the same a bit later, after washing herself. Back
at the Inn Catsi asks the soldier if he could arrange for some extra help from
the soldiers in Cluistead as they continue to Ealinor. The soldier agrees to
ask and ultimately is able to get an axtra soldier to accompany them, as well as
an extra horse and cart. Jasper
is a young soldier but VERY confident in his abilities and position as a
soldier. His youthful confidence leads him to believe that he is a mighty
warrior who has fought many battles – mostly in his head. As
they begin their travels the next day, Jett takes the lead - towing Catsi and Bardryn - with Jasper, while Tados follows behind and then the soldier, towing the nobles. Immediately, Jasper barrages Jett with stories and heroics that he has never actually been a
part of. This puts Jett off his attempt to keep an eye out for trouble (PER7)
as the constant yammering of the young soldier frustrates him. In
the cart, Bardryn hears this and tries to intimidate the soldier in to being
quite but failing the intimidation roll (crit fail to total 2) Jasper turns
around saying “You be quiet Dwarf. I am the soldier here, the one in charge and
protector. You do not tell me what to do, I tell you what to do.” Before he
turns back and immediately resumes his one way conversation with Jett. Jett
creates an illusion of sound around himself as a means of drowning out the boy
giving him advantage on the next roll, which he just success passes at DC15. As all this is happening, Tados is taking the travel time to his advantage as he
begins devising a new song, hoping that it will be a song of inspiration when
he sings it. For this to occur he has to make three successful PERF DC10 rolls which
he just meets on the first roll at DC12 but does not on the second at DC9. Up
front, Jett continues to try and look out for trouble but after 5hrs of travel
he is becoming weary and asks someone else in the group to take over. Tados
volunteers putting aside his song creaton for the time. Having a fresh set of
ears to assault, Jasper starts regaling Tados with his tales of being a solder;
however with a PERS 26, Tados returns with his own tales of life
growing up with his siblings which Jasper becomes intrigued by and goes quiet. However,
as Tados focusses his attention on stories to the young soldier, he forgets that
he is supposed to be looking out for adversaries and with crit fail to total 8
he does not see the Gnolls hiding ahead who jump out onto the road stopping
their path.
The
episode ends with initiative being rolled and the party prepare to battle the
Gnolls.