Session Six
17th Flocktime
18th Flocktime
19th Flocktime
Session Seven
22nd Flocktime
23rd Flocktime
Session Eight
Session Nine
Still the 24th of Flocktime
Session Ten
27th Flocktime
16th Flocktime
Late that evening the party discusses S'Rath and the possibility that he might have been the guy who advised the Drow where to find the K'Needian Elves. A concensus is reached that the party should try to disguise themselves since the Drow may still be looking for them and even someone mentioning "a bunch of pale elves" may be enough for the Drow to get on their trail. Snf'L is using the ribs from the bear for his Composite Bow. His backpack is now getting so full he has to carry his small tent strapped to the outside of his backpack, slowing down any access he might want to what's inside. The party figures they need about a day and a half to dry out the jerky.
The party spends this entire day drying out their bear jerky. X'ylo spends the better part of the day searching for the herbs he needs to make his potions and poltices. He does no have any luck in this area. Snf'L wanders about, doing some hunting, and he spots an otter playing playfully by itself in a stream. After several minutes, the otter finally spies Snf'L and swims away. Snf'L just smiles.
That evening the party again eats bear burgers. The smell quite possibly is what attracts the two gigantic blue "Frost Frogs" that show up. The frogs do not attack, and El'Fross feeds them some of the bear carcass. The frogs eat for awhile and them move on.
A light rain dampens the characters' spirits in the late morning. A group of rats has taken over the remains of the bear carcass and is eating it and apparently planning rat condos. The rain starts in earnest after 11:00 AM and continues to be heavy right through the day. The bear jerky is done just after noon, despite the damp weather, and the party takes a couple of hours to pack up and head out.
At 4:09 PM they spy a group of human bandits, who they easily avoid. They later ignore a rat. Just after 7:00 they come across a group of 15 Rovers of the Barrens (or so the party believes). The party evades/avoids the humans.
By 9:30 they are done travelling. The party camps and discusses goals. Short-term goals are finding the tools to help the party become stronger, better equipped. The medium range goal is to find other Schef Elves in Greyhawk. The long-term goals are to slaughter every Drow in Greyhawk, but that's a few years away. Bear Jerky for supper tonight.
20th Flocktime
Party meets Kurt the mercenary. They depart on friendly terms despite A'Ha's attitude.
Party encounters owlbear. The owlbear swipes at X'ylo and takes him down. Luckily the owlbear also mortally wounds self - instant death. They make camp and set Xylo up in a tent to nurse him back to health. Snf'L tries to find the owlbear's lair but can't even find the owlbear. The party is also unable to find X'Ylo's javelin. El'fross misses his nightly spell shot from X'Ylo. 2 people watch while the oher gets 4 hours sleep. If S'Rang has told the party the truth, this is when he began to follow the party. Before or after the owlbear? Who knows?
21st Flocktime
Nursing X'Ylo back to health. Trying to find X'Ylo's javelin but no luck. They do finally find the owlbear, however.
What a game this was! I don't have time to write it all out before bed, but I'll try to summarize:
Note: Some of the players apparently thought others were not playing their characters correctly. This lead to a lot of debate and soul-searching. I have not (to date) decided whether Snf'L and A'Ha should get a penalty for playing thier characters incorrectly. Aspects of each character were pushed a little far, while the general characters were but aside. If the next game session goes better, perhaps we can just forget the whole thing.
Finding he is having trouble keeping up, Snf'L gives his 3 lbs. Bear Jerky to X'Ylo.
Party encounters Monique the human fighter. Snf'L tries to communicate, while El'Fross treats her like many of the other encounters they have had and throws her food to placate her. A'Ha reacts by telling the creature to "Go away," and when she/it does not listen, he tosses a stick at the human to make her go away. It works, but the party is a bit taken aback by the human casually smashing the stick away from her with the odd three-rod weapon she carries.
Not long after thsi encounter, the party realizes they are being followed. Snf'L circles around while A'Ha and El'Fross are "sparring" and surprises the follower. It would seem to be S'Rang, S'Roth's twin brother, whom they have been seeking all along. Snf'L is not so sure and tries to detect magic or illusion on the figure. S'Rang demands the sword Jadlaif and S'Roth's 3 spellbooks. He does not seem particularily distraught about S'Roth's death. A'Ha gives the sword to S'Rang without much consideration at all, but there is a lot of discussion about whether S'Rang should get the spellbooks. Here ensues a big argument about the magic items and the party staying together. Snf'L takes off, but El'Fross follows him. S'Rang and A'Ha have a sort of agreement/disagreement over some basic philosophies. Snf'L and El'Fross return and try to work things out. A'Ha attacks El'Fross becasuse of comments made about A'Ha's sister. Snf'L is charmed but leaves the party again. El'Fross takes off after Snf'L while the rest of the party rests. Snf'L turns about and follows party. El'Fross goes back to the party but does not let them know he is back. It would seem the party is down to A'Ha, X'Ylo and S'Rang with two rogues out in the forest somewhere. All are reunited the next day and a very uneasy truce is established.
The party travels all day but not much happens. They are too tired from fighting (with each other). They arrive not far from the castle at evening. They will investigate it the following day.
Experience breakdown: 7 shares for S'Rang, 2 shares for A'Ha, El'Fross and Snf'L and 1 share for X'Ylo (player not present). This is a total of 14 shares. The experience was 4,000 for the magic items found and 1225 for the critters fought. S'Rang gets 175xp for killing a lone undead greebly before the rest could react. This means Xylo: 88xp for his clerical help in battle and 286xp to split between classes for the magic items; A'Ha: 175 fighter xp for critters and 571xp to split between classes for the magic items; S'Rang: unknown; ElFross: 175 fighter xp for critters and 571xp to split between classes for the magic items; and Snf'L: 175 fighter xp for critters and 571xp to split between classes for the magic items. I thought of giving the xp for the magic items only when they are used, but this means people close to going up a level might be tempted to blow a scroll just to give them a boost, which does not make sense in a reality kind of way. The tendency of the party was to use fighter skills only (except for X'Ylo who stuck to cleric skills) so the battle experience was assigned to only one class for each character.
24th Flocktime
The party travels to the castle. They encounter some ghastly undead creatures that X'ylo is unable to turn away. S'Rang shows his fighting prowess. Many ghouls are killed and magic items are found. S'Rang reluctantly reveals he has lost his magic book. He finally tells what he claims is the truth:
Once he found the village decimated he began his search for S'Roth. He came here to the castle to find that the entrance he was going to use was festooned with what looked very much like dragon dung. Discouraged, he went to find help. He came back with 3 humans, the most important one being Monique, a very capable fighter. They tried assailing the castle from the other direction and met with some nasty undead who got the drop on them. S'Rang got out his spellbook to cast a fireball on their undead heads, but the two humans went down and another undead scratched the book from S'Rang's hands. S'Rang and Monique had no choice but to leave. The damaged equipment is definitely the stuff worn by the dead humans, but who knows why it is damaged like it is.
Experience breakdown: I took off the 500xp we discussed tonight from each character. The experience for defeating the two ghouls was 350xp, and by defeating and not killing the giant the party was awarded 2650xp. Splitting this with 8 shares for S'Rang and 1 share for each PC, each PC got 250xp. Since most of the players used all their classes to some degree or another, I split it evenly among the classes.
The party decides to put the 1036cp and 1118sp back into the ghoul lair that they discovered and bury it with rocks. They try to memorize the location as best they can. The party searches down in the dry gully near the castle for the remainder of the lighted hours, checking every boulder in the hope of finding another ghoul lair and more treasure. S'Rang is especially hopeful theat his spellbook, knocked from his hands by the ghouls in an earlier battle, will be discovered. As the sun goes down and the light becomes too dim for an effective search they call it off. They have had no luck. They head North to camp in trees well away from the castle and the dry river bed. They set up in some pine trees for the night. During the second watch, which consists of A'Ha and X'Ylo, A'Ha suddenly smells a very strong odor of vinegar. He signals to X'Ylo, and the cleric is now alert and notices the vinegar smell as well. it seems to come from the North, so the two adventurers head that way to investigate. As they round the large pine tree that El'Fross is sleeping in, they each spot a thick-trunked black tree with fur wrapped around the bottom. A'Ha looks 'way up to see a pair of eyes gleaming in the dark about 20 feet up. Its a giant! Just then the giant makes an odd noise not unlike a cry of distress and runs away. A'Ha and X'Ylo wake up the rest of the group and they prepare to leave the area. Snf'L is slow to awaken, as is his way, and X'Ylo goes to help him come around. Snf'L is awakened to the smell of vinegar and the sight of a giant black hand reaching through the pine branches and stealing his backpack. Snf'L is down the tree in moments and chasing the vinegary smell, which seems to be heading south. He finds the giant not far away, sitting on the ground and crunching on something. It makes a disgusted noise and then a spitting sound is heard. Snf'L attacks with his bow, scoring a hit. The giant jumps up (quite a sight!) and runs away, leaving Snf'L's backpack behind, and all of its contents except for the veggie biscuits and Snf'L's two spellbooks! Snf'L is distraught and takes off after the giant again.
After a long-winded chase, the giant slows down because he is out of breath, and Snf'L catches up. Snf'L tries to take the giant down with his bow, all alone. The giant turns and Snf'L runs away, hiding behind a tree. The giant begins to look around for something on the ground. Snf'L fires another arrow into the behemoth. The giant finds what he is looking for: a very alrge rock. He turns about and aims at the tree the arrows are coming froma dn throws. It is a direct hit, crushing the tree completely and laying Snf'L flat. Then for whatever reason the giant resumes his trek South. The others, who followed as quickly as they were able, discover Snf'L's inert form under a fallen tree. Through X'Ylo's magic and healing skill, Snf'L is brought around. He is dazed and confused and cannot remember any of his spells, but otherwise not too badly off. The party sets up camp in a different spot for the rest of the night.
25th Flocktime
After catching up on their rest and memorizing/praying for new spells for the upcoming day's activities, the party travels back towards the castle. They follow the giant's footprints as best they can, but they dissappear near the castle. The party figures there can be no doubt where the giant lairs. They go back down into the gully to finish their serach for another ghoul lair. They figure they will wait until night to see if the giant leaves again, and then go and check outthe castle. Down in the gully they find the remains of a rusted weapon and follow a ghoul's footprints to find two more of the grisly creatures (which they defeat in combat) and some more treasure. A pendant with a white heart on a blue background, a metal mirror and 10 silver pieces, all carried by Snf'L.
Then they hunker down underneath their blankets, watching through holes as the snow piles up on top of them, waiting for night to fall and the giant to leave. Eventually they are rewarded as the giant comes out of the castle. It looks around at the snow, shivers and goes back in. The party is discussing just what they should do when the giant comes back out with extra furs which it puts on. Then it moves off to the North. The party quickly investigates the castle and find the giant's room. Thjey begin their search just as the giant comes back. Curses! Too long searching for traps on doors! The giant says, "There you are!" as it spots Snf'L and it grabs for him. But the ceiling is too low and Snf'L is in the midst of a tumble maneuver, and the giant trips and falls, crashing heavily into the wooden crates in the room. Snf'L hamstrings the giant before it can recover. The giant shakes it off as the other party members stab it in various areas on its body. The giant protests loudly, but does nothing to harm the party at this point. The party lets up as Snf'L and S'Rang communicate with the giant, who speaks a smattering of common. They discover that the giant's name is Mykell and he does not seem to think of things as being "owned" by people. He took the spellbooks to put on his shelf of other "paper things". The giant recognizes S'Rang as S'Roth, so the party discovers that the giant knew S'Roth. The giant also confirms the rumor that is indeed a dragon staying under the castle; a white one. The giant and the dragon are not friends. The giant says that S'Roth gave the white dragon a book to guard.
The spellbooks (both Snf'L's and S'Rang's) are recovered and the giant is spared (for now). The party plans to stay the night within the castle.
Just a quick note of what happened in the game. I don't have time to get this all done tonight, so I better just get the basics. A'Ha and Snf'L split 15xp (on warrior only) for the Giant Rat, Snf'L gets 5xp (warrior) for the incredible shot at the icky spider, A'Ha, Snf'L and El'Fross get 10xp on thief for trying to find traps and pick locks, while X'Ylo gets 10xp (cleric) for nursing poor Mykell back to health, while the party splits 650xp (all classes but mage) for the "Floating Pokey Thing Holder". The experience has not been done yet because I'm tired and want to go to bed. Please remind me if you don't see any changes in the next two days.
Snf'L: Warrior = 7+5+81 Thief = 10+81 --- Done with Inventory too!
A'Ha: Warrior = 7+81 Thief = 10+81 --- Done with Inventory too!
El'Fross: Warrior = 81 Thief = 10+81 --- Done with Inventory too!
X'Ylo: Warrior = 81 Cleric = 10+81 --- Done with Inventory too!
26th Flocktime
The warriors survive the night. Oddly, nothing ventures into the giant's area of the castle during the entire night. Snf'L does his best to use his leatherworking skills and tools to sew up the giant's severed achilles tendons. Then X'Ylo uses his spells to mend the cuts as well as he can. They are not especially successful. Mykell is not in as bad of health, but he isn't going to be tap dancing soon (perhaps thats a godo thing, now that I think about it). The adventurers spend the day checking out the various barrels and crates they find in the room where Mykell is laid out and the adjoining room. Snf'L and A'Ha encounter a giant rat which they kill with swords before it can even get close enough to bite them. Snf'L speaks to Mykell and finds out the giant has eaten the pages out of some of the books, including S'Rang's spellbook (he ate clone). S'Rang wants to kill the giant, but A'Ha tackles him and Snf'L sits on him until he relents. Snf'L then finds Mykell really likes to eat fish, so Snf'L goes out and catches five of them. A'Ha goes along. Meanwhile, El'Fross follows S'Rang around, goading him into teaching the lad something. S'Rang is quite perturbed as he is trying to memorize spells, but eventually relents and tries to teach the lad magic missile. El'Fross just can't get his brain around the spell.
Another night passes uneventfully. Mykell the giant is cured up as well as he can be, and the party asks him (through Snf'L) abou the area beyond his own "room". Mykell tells them he was frightened of the "Floating Pokey Thing" and did not explore further. The party is intrigued and asks Mykell just what a "Floating Pokey Thing" was. In response Mykell points to Snf'L's waste and says it is somewhat like Snf'L's Pokey Thing, but it floats. Misunderstanding, Snf'L begins to undo his pants, but Mykell shakes his head and indicates Snf'L's longsword. "Like that but smaller," he says. He then adds that the "Floating Pokey Ting" has a skull which follows it around.
The party goes to find the "FPT" and on the way passes through a room of dampness and cobwebs. El'Fross does an innate faerie fire on a biggish web in the corner, and sure enough something within glows purple. From 20 feet away, Snf'L raises his bow and shoots at what is not more than a point of light from where he stands. He hits the spider cleanly in the web, cleaving it in two and doing so at such an angle that the arrow falls to the floor unmarked. Snf'L casually walks up and sheaths the arrow back in his quiver.
On through the next door the party finds a hallway. Just to the left they see it: A Floating Sword pointing their way, and advancing at a slow but steady rate - a skull hanging a bit behind it and slightly above. A'Ha readies his bag to catch the sword, while El'Fross stands beside him, alert for danger. Snf'L tries to faerie fire the sword and skull, but the spell dissipates around a solid 10' barrier in front of the sword. As the sword nears the party, El'Fross strikes at it with his sword, and his hands meet the solid barrier but slip right through. It isn't unlike immersing one's hands in mud. A strange feeling comes over El'Fross as his sword misses the shortsword, and he suddenly finds that he cannot move. The barrier continues forward, and more of his inert form is sucked into the barrier, which seems to go quite a way back as well. Snf'L fires an arrow at the skull, but the arrow stops in midair before it gets to the skull. Now A'Ha tries to grab the sword with his sack, meeting the surface of the barrier as well and also finding he cannot move. Snf'L grabs El'Fross, and with a mighty heave manages to get him out. X'Ylo has not as good of luck at getting A'Ha out, and now finds that A'Ha is completely immersed in the barrier and X'Ylo is about to find himself stuck within as well. Now it is apparent that the sword and skull are suspended in some sort of clear jelly-like substance, which is now carrying X'Ylo and A'Ha forward toward Snf'L and El'Fross. Snf'L takes El'Fross out of harm's way and around a corner. X'Ylo makes another try for A'Ha, who likely suffering from the lack of oxygen. X'Ylo can't seem to rescue A'Ha, but seems to be unaffected by whatever it was that has made El'Fross and A'Ha immobile. Something in the jelly is eating away at A'Ha's clothing and backpack, and his flesh as well. X'Ylo can feel the itching as well, and suddenly he becomes unconscious. Now Snf'L is the only one left standing and active. First Snf'L pulls X'Ylo from the horrid slime, but is unable to help A'Ha, who is deeply immersed. Thinking that he cannot harm such a horrid abomination, he moves forward anyway, striking at it with his swords. He splits it in twain, the entire thing losing solidity as it slides into halves. A'Ha is pulled out and X'Ylo is laid down. Eventually El'Fross comes to and he and Snf'L go to get S'Rang to help with the other two bodies.
The party is back in the room as the day winds to a close. The shortsword is found to be good quality. Snf'L can find no magic on the sword or the skull, but Snf'L takes the sword anyway. X'Ylo heads in and out of consciousness, and is expected (perhaps somewaht optimistically) to be better in the morning. A'Ha is quite hurt, seemingly burned by acid. His bacpack is destroyed and some of his clothing as well. The two wizard scrolls he carried are toast, as well as the spellbook he had.
Snf'L figures since he has been feeding Mykell the giant all the criters they have killed in the dungeon up until this point that he will give Mykell a chunk of the jelly-thing that carried the shortsword. Mykell is smitten almost immediately by a gut-wrenching pain and is not in good health that night.