We left the Adventurers as they were on thier way to Ealinor with some new allies. Tados had taken the lead with the young soldier, Jasper, and was entertaining Jasper with stories of his youth. His misguided attention, though, stopped him from seeing a band of six Gnolls before they blocked the road ahead forcing the party to stop. * As the Gnolls entered the road, Catsi tells Bardryn to distract the Gnolls as she attempts to sneak into the bushes With a high stealth throw, she rolls off
the back of the wagon and easily sneaks into surrounding bushes
as Bardryn strides forward getting the attention of Gnolls. Making use of the distraction, Jett sneaks into bushes as well. Bartelot, the soldier the party met in the abandoned mine shafts, steps forward and places his hand on Bardryn's shoudler, as he continues to halfway between parties and tells Gnolls to move out of the way. Ozz, the leader of the band of Gnolls, steps
forward and responds that he will not move until he has what he is after; the Dwarf, the Elf, and the Heart Sphere. Initative: Bartelot, Jett, Ott (Gnoll), Oz (Gnoll), Rakk (Gnoll), Yzazz (Gnoll) Jasper, Bardryn, Catsi, Tados, Grynn (Gnoll) Turn 1: Bartelot r eadies an action in preparation for when the Gnolls move. Jett also readies an action of using illusion in the form of a sound of an explosion behind the Gnolls when they begin to attack which takes effect when Ott takes out his longbow and prepares to fire an arrow. The sound of the explosion behind the Gnoll line puts Ott off and his arrow shoots wide of Bartelot. With the explosion ringing in his ears, the Gnoll leader, Ozz grabs Rakk by the scruff and shouts at him, "Go get that soldier!" casting Incite Rampage on the Gnoll. In reponse, Rakk runs to Bartelot, pulling out his spear and making a two-handed attack on the soldier which misses its mark as Bartelot blocks the attack. On the other side of Ozz, Rakk's brother Yzazz fires an arrow at Bartelot which finds its mark as the soldier focusses on blocking Rakk's attack. Seeing the combat unfold before him, Jasper begins reversing the cart - and himself - away, while Bardryn runs to meet Rakk with both her battleaxes out. Her attacks open two great wounding cuts in the torso of the Gnoll. Back at the Gnoll line, Catsi comes out of hiding and succeeds her stealth roll to sneak up on Ozz where she succeeds in her STR throw to grapple him with the chain attached to her wrist. With her second attack she takes the ball at the end of the chain and slams it into the Gnoll leader's head. Tados comes up behind Bart and Bardryn, casting Heroism at level 2 to affect both of her friends, while the Gnoll, Grynn makes a two-handed spear attack on Catsi which she barely notices due to raging. Turn 2: Top of the order sees Bartelot swinging his longsword at Rakk, opening another wound down the Gnoll's chest, and Jett coming out of hiding where he sneaks up to Ott and delves his two daggers deep into the back of the Gnoll leaving two large gaping wounds as he pulls them back out. Ott retaliates with a two-handed spear attack, which misses as Jett deftly swipes the attack aside. Not liking being Grappled, Ozz takes hold of the chain around his neck and with a greater STR throw swiftly twists to break free trying to use the chain to swing Catsi away; however, Catsi digs her feet in and withstands the action with a greater STR roll. Ott attempts to make an attack on Jett again; however, his spear is cast aside once more by the Elf, while his brother, Yzazz again hits Catsi who barely notices. At the far end of the road, Jasper keeps reversing the cart as Bardyn opens two more wounds on Rakk with her battleaxes. Focussed on the Gnoll leader in front of her, Catsi winds up her ball and chain swinging the ball at Ozz who ducks the first attack but is too slow for the second which hits him in the head. Seeing her friends taking meaty chunks out of the Gnoll, Rakk, Tados tries his hand with his rapier and is satisfactorily rewarded as the tip punctures the Gnoll's flesh before he moves backward a little. The turn ends with Grynn taking inspiration from his past attacks on Catsi to make a Crit attack on this turn. Turn 3: Seeing Rakk weak and bleeding before him, Bartelot takes advantage to bring his longsword down on the head of the Gnoll with a Crit attack watching as Rakk's head is cloven in two and the Gnoll falls lifeless at his feet. In combat with the Gnoll before him, Jett drives his daggers into Ott's chest once more, hearing the squalching sucking sound as he withdrawls them. Enraged by the Elf's attacks, Ott retaliates again and, with a moment of clarity, finds his mark, although Jett uses his uncanny dodge to avoid most of the spear's damage. Next to Ott, the Ozz pulls out a huge Glaive and makes his multi-attacks on Catsi, who dodges the first attack but is hit by the second. Not seeing his brother fall, Yzazz continues his attack on Catsi, trying to defend his leader, hitting the Tabaxi once more with his spear, while Jasper, now seeing that Bartelot and Bardryn have fallen the Gnoll, finally gets off the cart and walks up them saying, "Good job guys, I knew you could do it!". In response, Bardryn sticks her finger up at him and runs up to join Catsi in attacking Ozz. Her first battleaxe misses but the sound of steell cutting flesh is music to her ears as the second attack hits. Still in her rage, Catsi begins recklessly twirling the ball and chain above her in a circle making and makes three attacks, feeling satisfaction as Grynn, Yzazz, and Ozz all feel the ball connect with their heads. Taking most of the damage from the ball's momentum, Ozz is seen reeling in pain and confusion from the blow to his head. Tados sends healing to Catsi, while Grynn winds the turn up with an unsuccessful attack on Catsi. Turn 4: Grabbling hold of the young soldier, Bartelot pulls Jasper toward the battle yelling: "Stop being a pussy. Get in the battle and do what you have sworn to do!" and throwing him toward Ott, while Jett fisnishes off Ott by driving his daggers into the neck of the Gnoll, severing the arteries. As the Gnoll gurgles his last breaths, Jett throws him aside into Grynn trying to distract the other Gnoll. Being stunned by Catsi's attack, Ozz fails his saving throw and is left dazed and confused by the blow to his head, while Yzazz makes a further successful attack on Catsi. As Jasper was thrown into the foray by Bartelot, he trips over the fallen body of Ott, yet somehow the tip of his sword still finds its mark and punctures Grynn's skin. Seeing the leader swaying on his feet, Bardryn attacks Ozz, her battleaxes digging deep into the Gnoll and she watches as he falls lifeless before her. Still keeping the momentum of her ball and chain, Catsi keeps the ball moving hitting Grynn and Yzazz once more before changing direction and bringing the ball down onto the skull of the fallen leader. As the ball hits the skull, Bardryn is covered in a shower of brain matter, blood, and bone fragments. Tados comes to join the last of the battle, however, misses his attacks on Yzazz, leavng Grynn to round up the turn by attacking the young soldier who fell into him, giving Jasper his first ever battle wound. Turn 5: Havng thrown Jasper toward the battle, Bartelot follws in himself and hits Grynn with his longsword, as Yzazz hits Catsi once more. Grasping his side, Jasper starts yelling, "I've been hit! I'm going to die! Help me!" as he begins crawling backward. Bardryn yells to the young soldier to stop being a wuss, and makes two attacks on Yzazz, the first missing but the second hitting the Gnoll, as Catsi swings her ball and chain at Yzazz doing great damage to the Gnoll. Tados makes another attack on Yzazz also but misses, while Grynn returns the attack on Bartelot, also missing. Turn 6: Bartelot misses his attack on Grynn, though Jett aso attacks the Gnoll, his daggers puncturing Grynn's flesh felling the Gnoll. Yzazz attacks and hits Tados in retaliation, while Jasper continues to move back grapsing his small wound. Bardryn strikes out with her battlaxes for the final time, ending Yzazz's life. As Bardryn looks around after killing Yzazz, she sees that all the Gnolls are dead. As she looks around she sees Catsi winding up her ball and chain, and as she recognises what is about to happen,
the ball comes crashing down on the skull on Yzazz, exploding brain matter,
bone and blood over the Dwarf once more – and now also over Tados who was also standing next to
Yzazz. Complainingly
asking if Catsi means to cover her in brain, blood and bone, Bard picks
up the dead body of Yzazz and throws it at the Tabaxi. Catsi catches the body and takes it over to Jasper who is still on ground in pain over his flesh wound, where shoves the disfigured head of Yzaz into Jasper yelling “This is an enemy.
You kill it!" As
she does so, her rage ends and cat slumps on the body of Yzazz, exhausted. Bardryn,
Catsi and Jett decide to investigate the dead bodies where Catsi finds on Ozz, a vicious glaive, a longbow, a pouch full small finger bones, and a torn parchment that was hard to read. She does see the words: “Contract… elf… dwarf... heart sphere… Gareth”. Bardryn and Jett find four longbows, eight spears, 100gp, 50sp, 10cp After the battle, the Party
decides to take a short. While Catsi curls up in the cart exhausted,
Tados and Bardryn clean off in nearby pon. Ever the trickster, Jett decides to have some fun and
creates an illusion of shark fin making its way toward them. Bardryn sees the fin and
starts becoming concerned. She tells Tados who looks, and with PERC roll of 26, sees the shimmer
of illusion on the fin. He gets up and walks through it at which time the fin
fades. Tados looks around to see who made it but is unable to see Jett hiding among the large rocks smirking (Jett
17stealth vs Tad 13 PERC) After
an hour of rest, Bartelot gathers the group together saying, “Daylight is fast fleeing and I do not want to
be on the road any longer than we need to be – especially not at night. We must
keep moving before nightfall.” The
party all move on with Tados and Jasper at the lead. Jasper is much more silent
now than he was before, and as they travel Tados looks over and sees Jasper looking
at his wound frequently. K nowing that the young soldier is going to exaggerate the combat in his favour, Tados begins giving advice to Jasper about how to tell good
stories. Two
13 PERC, and a 23 PERC, saw the Party advance two hours to the eight hour mark where they
decided to take a long rest by the side of a river that the main road to
Ealinor passed over. Bardryn found a spot by the river where the small cliff wall receeded forming a half
cave. The Party rested there, setting up the top flap of the tent for further
cover. As the after noon waned and night drew near, they each attempted to catch
fish. Catsi strode up to the river and swung her ball at the water in an effort to try and
knock out some fish underneath. With a STR9 nothing happened but a big splash. Jett
tried to hit the fleeing fish with a spear, but a crit fail saw him miss the
fast fish. Learning
from her first attempt, though, Catsi took some bread crumbs and threw them on the water, waiting for the fish to eat the bread. As they started doing so, she swung
her ball at the turbulent water and with a STR16 made the DC to hit 1d4 fish
with 2 fish floating lifeless to the surface. Further
back up the river, Tados tried to catch fish with a spear but with DEX7, missed.
However, Bardryn strode up and splashed her way into the water throwing down
her spear, and with a DEX14 hit 1d4 fish. A crit fail ended with her catching 1
fish. As Bardryn and Catsi returned with their victories, Jasper became competitive and,
snatching the spear off Tados, strode to the water to try catch a fish. As he
stood in the water ready to catch, he drew back the spear to make his attack
when Tados cast prestigidiation of sparks in his face, distracting him and
temporarily blinding him to make him miss the fish. However, this caused him to drop
the spear which floated away on the swift river current. As Jasper returned, wiping his eyes trying to get rid of the dark dots still
foating in them, Tados attepted to tell him that was for snatching the spear and
not asking. Jasper only complained that it hurt his eyes, ignoring the lesson. When
night came, Jett pulled out his cooking tools and cooked the fish sharing it
around the team. After dinner as they all rested, Tados returned his attention to
his song of inspiration. With a crit PERF roll to total 27, he was overcome by
the depths of his spirit and inner being, and music and words flowed through him
such as he has never felt before. With a final PERF of 14, he finishes the
song with a flourish and has a second song of INSP to use (can now cast Bardic Inspiration on two people). Proud of his new song, Tados eagerly shares it with the rest
of the group. As Tados is working on his song, Jett takes the time to attune to the Robe of Stars
before peacefully entering his trance as he listens to Tados share his new song. Catsi and Bardryn silently drift off to sleep listening to the song as does Bartelot, Jasper and the Nobleman; however, as Tados quietly finishes he looks over to see the female noble
lying on her side, propped up, looking at him. “That is a beautiful song. Where did
you learn it, or did you write it?” “I
wrote it.” “It's
beautiful; inspiriing. If you would, I would like you to come with me and meet
someone when we get to Ealinor.” “I
will if it won't take too long. We have an important job to do and we have to be
quick about it.” “I
will ensure it won't take long, but it will help you and maybe your friends, too” “Well
in that case, I will definitely come wih you.” As
the female noble goes to sleep, Tados enters first 4hs of watch which goes without incident.
After 4hrs he wakes Bardryn, who takes next 4hrs. During her shift a fog creeps in
as the early hours of the morning come by. After 4hrs she wakes Catsi, who takes
the last watch till day break, catching more fish in the early morning light
before everyone wakes. Learning from her experience the day before, she uses the bread and swings harder as the fish bite. A STR25 saw her rolling a 1d6 for 4 fish. As
everyone wakes, she does so again with a STR23 for another 1d6 for 4 more fish.
The episode ended with the party breaking camp.