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<blockquote data-quote="MarauderX" data-source="post: 1678485" data-attributes="member: 9990"><p><strong><u><span style="font-size: 15px">Session 13: Chautauqua</span></u></strong></p><p></p><p>At the homestead, Thovaas made the rounds once again, circling the make-shift tents and shaking hands as he went. As Jerrin talked with the attentive smithy, Alex helped the handicapped Rollof get some soup. Towards the outskirts, Thovaas encountered a solid looking dwarf, the only of his kind at Sukyskin. Thovaas introduced himself as Yaritza tagged along within earshot, curious about the dwarf herself. The dwarf noticed Thovaas’s monikers of Heroneous and searched his face before responding. “My name is Bratton,” he said. </p><p></p><p>Bratton and Thovaas talked for a good while about the homestead, Pyotr and what each was planning to do. Yaritza inched in to steel a closer look at the dwarf, and listened as Thovaas invited the adventure-hungry dwarf to join them. Bratton accepted and asked more of the place called Chautauqua, and soon he was acquainted with Loshad’s name and the adventure thus far. </p><p></p><p>The following morning the group set out on foot, with Bratton the dwarf and the unharmed ex-goblin prisoner Yaritza joining the trio that had once saved Sukyskin. It was mid-afternoon when they spied the clearing where they had agreed to meet Loshad, and he was waiting, nearly invisible lying in the thick weeds. Without a word, he made several hand motions and a group of black stallions emerged from the forest. The horses kneeled, and four of the adventurers climbed onto their bare backs. With a jolt the group was propelled through the forest.</p><p></p><p>The horses stopped at sunset, and each day they would nudge the party awake at sunrise. Ten days passed, and the woods began to thin as it gave way to the plains to the south, and soon they saw the open plain through the tree line. As they crested though it Loshad stood facing across the plain. Looking where Loshad pointed, they saw a rock wall to a plateau, miles across the plain. In the middle, on top of the plateau, rose a tower, stabbing into the sky compared with the surrounding flat plains. </p><p></p><p>Loshad’s head swiveled to face the party. “That is the ruins of Chautauqua. I will guide you half-way across the plains, and from there you will be on your own. Jerrin will be able to guide you back to your home.” He led the way across the plain as the morning sun shone down and before long the horses knelt down to allow the riders to slide off as the tower loomed nearer. </p><p></p><p>“Have you been to Chautauqua before?” asked Yaritza of the centaur. </p><p>“I have not,” Loshad said. </p><p>“Do you know what’s there?” Yaritza inquired.</p><p>“Just the ruins,” Loshad said, “and Pyotr’s red-haired brother. If he is as noble as Pyotr I wish you the best of luck in dealing the savages there. May the gods watch over you all.”</p><p></p><p>Loshad’s jet-black companions halted and lowered their front hooves long enough for the riders to dismount. Loshad waved as they left, creating a small cloud of dust as they headed west onto the plains. </p><p></p><p>The group discussed the tower for a minute before arranging their equipment for walking the rest of the way to the tower. As they neared they could see wide steps leading up from the base of the plateau to smaller structures near the base of the tower. Once they reached the base of the steps they gazed again at the tower above. At its top they saw that it had columns on each of its octagonal corners, and that the columns had an eerie burning white flame dancing on each. Cautiously they began to ascend the gigantic-sized steps. </p><p></p><p>The party shifted formation as some members heard sounds near the top. Alex began up the steps to scout ahead when they all heard the noise from the top. They were three-quarters to the top, and the sun shone down brightly to prevent hiding on the crumbling steps. Again they heard the sound of what Jerrin thought might be screeching monkeys or angry apes. Instead they saw four baboons crest over the top of the steps, each with a tight leash that extended to a broad hobgoblin behind them. Seven more hobgoblins stepped up to peer down the steps at the party, each armed with a bow, and as they reached the top the lead hobgoblin dropped the baboons’ leashes to let them crash down the stairs at the party. </p><p></p><p>Bratton and Thovaas waited as the baboons raced down the decrepit stone steps, bounding over one another to be the first to attack. Thovaas sunk an arrow into the baboons’ master as Bratton readied his axe. Bratton swung as soon as they were close and felled one easily as Yaritza cast a spell to tug at another’s leash. Jerrin and Alex fired up the steps with ranged weapons, and a hail of return fire came from the hobgoblins. </p><p></p><p>Bratton and Thovaas struck down the baboons and Jerrin winced until he realized these baboons had been driven mad with a bloodlust. Arrows struck the party hard time and again, and eventually Thovaas and Bratton began climbing the steps to face them. The baboons’ master turned and fled as they exchanged fire. As Thovaas moved up the steps a glint of light flew from the top of the tower and wounded him beneath his armor. He slowed his climb up the stairs and secured his shield tighter as more arrows clattered off of it. Again he saw the gleam of light and felt a searing pain as the bolt of light struck him. Looking at the others as witnesses, Thovaas might have been the only one to see the lights that had been streaking from the tower to wound him. A third time the light struck him, just as he and Bratton engaged the hobgoblins in melee. </p><p></p><p>The hobgoblins dropped their bows and drew scimitars to reckon with the party, and before long the hobgoblins dropped one by one, but not before Thovaas dropped to his knees, momentarily staggered. One of the remaining hobgoblins escaped to into the empty streets of the town, and the party dropped back down the steps to hide from any more attacks in the town. </p><p></p><p>Catching their breath, the party cautiously made their way into the town. The houses and buildings were all single-story, and were built out of ravines that wound their way around the tower. Yaritza climbed to the top of one of the homes and could see the layout of the town below. The tower’s shadow stretched beside her, spreading a dark unease across the silent town. </p><p></p><p>Thovaas and the others began searching through the homes one by one, coming across little in the way of value. Bratton noticed that the construction was of a much older type, with the stone work much thicker and detailed in many places than much he had seen. Jerrin persuaded his companion, Tempest, to test for any recent inhabitants by smell. Sensing none, they moved on closer to the tower. Eventually they went through one of the buildings that had multiple openings and came out closer to the tower, but still there was no sign of any hobgoblins nearby. </p><p></p><p>The group inched their way towards the tower with Yaritza above as a look out. They spotted a door on the street level that seemed like a back entrance, but it seemed locked. Alex and Yaritza circled the tower quietly to find other entrances and discovered a main entrance on the opposite side as well as another small entrance. They looked upward at the tower and noticed that it had no windows or other openings. Bratton rubbed his hand over the stone base and remarked how tight the joints were assembled. He was asked to elaborate and told the others that the construction was done long ago, and wasn’t typical of anything he had seen before. Starting at the top a long, thin crack ran down the side of the tower, and Bratton said that the surface was probably once as smooth as glass and had weathered to be coarse. </p><p></p><p>Shaking off an unnatural feeling, they tested the door they had discovered first. Alex crouched in front of it, and before Thovaas could ask if he could do something Alex popped up a reinforcing bar on the other side and swung the door open. Peering inside, they lit a torch and saw a narrow, straight corridor. They walked inside; weapons readied cautiously, and crept down the corridor. The corridor gave way to reveal rows of sarcophagi on either side, each set back in a niche. </p><p></p><p>Yaritza looked closely at a sarcophagus and studied its ornate designs carved from stone. She could tell that the stone itself might have been worked with magic to achieve the high detail, but that the sarcophagus was not enchanted. Thovaas used his spider-sense to determine that there was nothing threatening within. </p><p></p><p>They began to move through old cob webs that might have been there for years and Thovaas swept them aside as they got thicker when they turned a corner. Not being able to see that far, Thovaas used his torch to burn away the webs.</p><p></p><p>Just as he was swinging the torch from side to side, his eyes met 8 others – a monstrous spider clung to the thick webs and lashed out, snapping the air inches from Thovaas’s face. Bratton moved forward to strike, and the spider climbed upside down on the ceiling before biting Thovaas hard on the shoulder, and poison oozed from its mandibles. Thovaas felt weaker and weaker as they clashed until finally he collapsed. Soon the spider was slain and the group aided Thovaas. Investigating the rest of the area, Bratton discovered a large, ball-like sack hanging by webs from the ceiling. Jerrin quickly identified it as the spider’s egg sack and they all left well enough alone. </p><p></p><p>The party decided to rest in the first corridor near the door they had come through and laid down some defenses by barring the door and using caltrops. They rested through the rest of the day, taking turns to keep a close watch for anything peculiar. As the night came on, Thovaas volunteered to stay up while everyone else rested longer. Around 2 or 3 A.M. Thovaas heard some shuffling and voices in a guttural tongue outside the door. The creatures on the other side of the door were trying to stay silent, and the door shuddered, startling Thovaas, as they tried to open it. Thovaas woke the others, and the shuffling and voices faded into the night. </p><p></p><p>Alex added the last flask of oil to the lantern and fifteen minutes later the party went to the only other door to their hovel. Thovaas hugged the wall next to the door with Bratton opposite the door and the rest of the party waited behind him. As they had suspected, they heard some sounds of movement on the other side of the door and watched as the door peaked open slowly. Thovaas saw a hobgoblin eye and they all heard clicking, chitterling words come from the small opening. Thovaas stepped forward out the darkness and slammed the door shut with the butt of his axe, surprising and jarring the hobgoblin on the other side as it cursed loudly. </p><p></p><p>The door swung wide with a crash and Bratton saw several hobgoblins at the bottom of a stair landing pushing their way towards him. Everyone waited as the first burst into the room, and it yelped as its feet were struck several times by the caltrops near the door. Bratton and Thovaas swung their axes and felled it, the body collapsing in one of the niches. The second came through and the caltrops also slowed it down, allowing the party to gang up on it, slaying it before it could do serious damage. The frustrated leader could be heard cursing again as he climbed up the stairs. Thovaas looked up the stairs at him and an arrow zipped by him as they exchanged shouts, each in their native tongues. </p><p></p><p>The party closed the door to the stairs and Bratton and Thovaas, with Yaritza supervising, moved one of the ornate stone sarcophagi in front of the door to block it from opening. Once in place the group slowly let their guard down to return to sleep with Thovaas keeping watch. </p><p></p><p>Jerrin could tell that morning was approaching and woke before the others to see Thovaas completing his morning prayers. Slowly they all woke and had breakfast as they stretched from a long night on the cold stone floor.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MarauderX, post: 1678485, member: 9990"] [B][U][SIZE=4]Session 13: Chautauqua[/SIZE][/U][/B] At the homestead, Thovaas made the rounds once again, circling the make-shift tents and shaking hands as he went. As Jerrin talked with the attentive smithy, Alex helped the handicapped Rollof get some soup. Towards the outskirts, Thovaas encountered a solid looking dwarf, the only of his kind at Sukyskin. Thovaas introduced himself as Yaritza tagged along within earshot, curious about the dwarf herself. The dwarf noticed Thovaas’s monikers of Heroneous and searched his face before responding. “My name is Bratton,” he said. Bratton and Thovaas talked for a good while about the homestead, Pyotr and what each was planning to do. Yaritza inched in to steel a closer look at the dwarf, and listened as Thovaas invited the adventure-hungry dwarf to join them. Bratton accepted and asked more of the place called Chautauqua, and soon he was acquainted with Loshad’s name and the adventure thus far. The following morning the group set out on foot, with Bratton the dwarf and the unharmed ex-goblin prisoner Yaritza joining the trio that had once saved Sukyskin. It was mid-afternoon when they spied the clearing where they had agreed to meet Loshad, and he was waiting, nearly invisible lying in the thick weeds. Without a word, he made several hand motions and a group of black stallions emerged from the forest. The horses kneeled, and four of the adventurers climbed onto their bare backs. With a jolt the group was propelled through the forest. The horses stopped at sunset, and each day they would nudge the party awake at sunrise. Ten days passed, and the woods began to thin as it gave way to the plains to the south, and soon they saw the open plain through the tree line. As they crested though it Loshad stood facing across the plain. Looking where Loshad pointed, they saw a rock wall to a plateau, miles across the plain. In the middle, on top of the plateau, rose a tower, stabbing into the sky compared with the surrounding flat plains. Loshad’s head swiveled to face the party. “That is the ruins of Chautauqua. I will guide you half-way across the plains, and from there you will be on your own. Jerrin will be able to guide you back to your home.” He led the way across the plain as the morning sun shone down and before long the horses knelt down to allow the riders to slide off as the tower loomed nearer. “Have you been to Chautauqua before?” asked Yaritza of the centaur. “I have not,” Loshad said. “Do you know what’s there?” Yaritza inquired. “Just the ruins,” Loshad said, “and Pyotr’s red-haired brother. If he is as noble as Pyotr I wish you the best of luck in dealing the savages there. May the gods watch over you all.” Loshad’s jet-black companions halted and lowered their front hooves long enough for the riders to dismount. Loshad waved as they left, creating a small cloud of dust as they headed west onto the plains. The group discussed the tower for a minute before arranging their equipment for walking the rest of the way to the tower. As they neared they could see wide steps leading up from the base of the plateau to smaller structures near the base of the tower. Once they reached the base of the steps they gazed again at the tower above. At its top they saw that it had columns on each of its octagonal corners, and that the columns had an eerie burning white flame dancing on each. Cautiously they began to ascend the gigantic-sized steps. The party shifted formation as some members heard sounds near the top. Alex began up the steps to scout ahead when they all heard the noise from the top. They were three-quarters to the top, and the sun shone down brightly to prevent hiding on the crumbling steps. Again they heard the sound of what Jerrin thought might be screeching monkeys or angry apes. Instead they saw four baboons crest over the top of the steps, each with a tight leash that extended to a broad hobgoblin behind them. Seven more hobgoblins stepped up to peer down the steps at the party, each armed with a bow, and as they reached the top the lead hobgoblin dropped the baboons’ leashes to let them crash down the stairs at the party. Bratton and Thovaas waited as the baboons raced down the decrepit stone steps, bounding over one another to be the first to attack. Thovaas sunk an arrow into the baboons’ master as Bratton readied his axe. Bratton swung as soon as they were close and felled one easily as Yaritza cast a spell to tug at another’s leash. Jerrin and Alex fired up the steps with ranged weapons, and a hail of return fire came from the hobgoblins. Bratton and Thovaas struck down the baboons and Jerrin winced until he realized these baboons had been driven mad with a bloodlust. Arrows struck the party hard time and again, and eventually Thovaas and Bratton began climbing the steps to face them. The baboons’ master turned and fled as they exchanged fire. As Thovaas moved up the steps a glint of light flew from the top of the tower and wounded him beneath his armor. He slowed his climb up the stairs and secured his shield tighter as more arrows clattered off of it. Again he saw the gleam of light and felt a searing pain as the bolt of light struck him. Looking at the others as witnesses, Thovaas might have been the only one to see the lights that had been streaking from the tower to wound him. A third time the light struck him, just as he and Bratton engaged the hobgoblins in melee. The hobgoblins dropped their bows and drew scimitars to reckon with the party, and before long the hobgoblins dropped one by one, but not before Thovaas dropped to his knees, momentarily staggered. One of the remaining hobgoblins escaped to into the empty streets of the town, and the party dropped back down the steps to hide from any more attacks in the town. Catching their breath, the party cautiously made their way into the town. The houses and buildings were all single-story, and were built out of ravines that wound their way around the tower. Yaritza climbed to the top of one of the homes and could see the layout of the town below. The tower’s shadow stretched beside her, spreading a dark unease across the silent town. Thovaas and the others began searching through the homes one by one, coming across little in the way of value. Bratton noticed that the construction was of a much older type, with the stone work much thicker and detailed in many places than much he had seen. Jerrin persuaded his companion, Tempest, to test for any recent inhabitants by smell. Sensing none, they moved on closer to the tower. Eventually they went through one of the buildings that had multiple openings and came out closer to the tower, but still there was no sign of any hobgoblins nearby. The group inched their way towards the tower with Yaritza above as a look out. They spotted a door on the street level that seemed like a back entrance, but it seemed locked. Alex and Yaritza circled the tower quietly to find other entrances and discovered a main entrance on the opposite side as well as another small entrance. They looked upward at the tower and noticed that it had no windows or other openings. Bratton rubbed his hand over the stone base and remarked how tight the joints were assembled. He was asked to elaborate and told the others that the construction was done long ago, and wasn’t typical of anything he had seen before. Starting at the top a long, thin crack ran down the side of the tower, and Bratton said that the surface was probably once as smooth as glass and had weathered to be coarse. Shaking off an unnatural feeling, they tested the door they had discovered first. Alex crouched in front of it, and before Thovaas could ask if he could do something Alex popped up a reinforcing bar on the other side and swung the door open. Peering inside, they lit a torch and saw a narrow, straight corridor. They walked inside; weapons readied cautiously, and crept down the corridor. The corridor gave way to reveal rows of sarcophagi on either side, each set back in a niche. Yaritza looked closely at a sarcophagus and studied its ornate designs carved from stone. She could tell that the stone itself might have been worked with magic to achieve the high detail, but that the sarcophagus was not enchanted. Thovaas used his spider-sense to determine that there was nothing threatening within. They began to move through old cob webs that might have been there for years and Thovaas swept them aside as they got thicker when they turned a corner. Not being able to see that far, Thovaas used his torch to burn away the webs. Just as he was swinging the torch from side to side, his eyes met 8 others – a monstrous spider clung to the thick webs and lashed out, snapping the air inches from Thovaas’s face. Bratton moved forward to strike, and the spider climbed upside down on the ceiling before biting Thovaas hard on the shoulder, and poison oozed from its mandibles. Thovaas felt weaker and weaker as they clashed until finally he collapsed. Soon the spider was slain and the group aided Thovaas. Investigating the rest of the area, Bratton discovered a large, ball-like sack hanging by webs from the ceiling. Jerrin quickly identified it as the spider’s egg sack and they all left well enough alone. The party decided to rest in the first corridor near the door they had come through and laid down some defenses by barring the door and using caltrops. They rested through the rest of the day, taking turns to keep a close watch for anything peculiar. As the night came on, Thovaas volunteered to stay up while everyone else rested longer. Around 2 or 3 A.M. Thovaas heard some shuffling and voices in a guttural tongue outside the door. The creatures on the other side of the door were trying to stay silent, and the door shuddered, startling Thovaas, as they tried to open it. Thovaas woke the others, and the shuffling and voices faded into the night. Alex added the last flask of oil to the lantern and fifteen minutes later the party went to the only other door to their hovel. Thovaas hugged the wall next to the door with Bratton opposite the door and the rest of the party waited behind him. As they had suspected, they heard some sounds of movement on the other side of the door and watched as the door peaked open slowly. Thovaas saw a hobgoblin eye and they all heard clicking, chitterling words come from the small opening. Thovaas stepped forward out the darkness and slammed the door shut with the butt of his axe, surprising and jarring the hobgoblin on the other side as it cursed loudly. The door swung wide with a crash and Bratton saw several hobgoblins at the bottom of a stair landing pushing their way towards him. Everyone waited as the first burst into the room, and it yelped as its feet were struck several times by the caltrops near the door. Bratton and Thovaas swung their axes and felled it, the body collapsing in one of the niches. The second came through and the caltrops also slowed it down, allowing the party to gang up on it, slaying it before it could do serious damage. The frustrated leader could be heard cursing again as he climbed up the stairs. Thovaas looked up the stairs at him and an arrow zipped by him as they exchanged shouts, each in their native tongues. The party closed the door to the stairs and Bratton and Thovaas, with Yaritza supervising, moved one of the ornate stone sarcophagi in front of the door to block it from opening. Once in place the group slowly let their guard down to return to sleep with Thovaas keeping watch. Jerrin could tell that morning was approaching and woke before the others to see Thovaas completing his morning prayers. Slowly they all woke and had breakfast as they stretched from a long night on the cold stone floor. [/QUOTE]
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