Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nail" data-source="post: 889871" data-attributes="member: 224">Rowan gets the lime light?Session #5: "Druid-speak" (Session of RL April 13th, 2003)The session begins just after the battle with the undead....All is quiet for a moment, as the heroes take stock of their surroundings.  The restless dead are either destroyed or driven off.  At the entrance of the decrepit farm house lies a pile of burnt and smoldering rags, all that remains of the thing that Thaile has called a "mummy".  Riva lies on the floor of the house, still paralyzed from the touch of the hungry dead.  Just outside the house, Rowan holds the dragon idol, and her eyes blaze with new-found authority.  And perhaps there are other undead out there, somewhere, waiting to attack.  What to do?Loot the bodies, of course!  With Thaile in the lead, and Garret not far behind, their first target is the fallen mummy.  The mask and jewelry it wore are taken and carefully studied, and the various trinkets and treasures from the other fallen corpses are stowed as well.  Eventually Riva shakes off his paralysis and joins them.  He is especially taken with the workmanship (and the value!) of the gold and ruby dragon necklace the mummy wore.While the adventurers happily paw through the remains of the dead, Mulukikyip (the kobold leader) and Kytum-up (his lieutenant) approach Rowan, and after a brief discussion Rowan reluctantly hands over the dragon idol to Kytum-up.  As Rowan walked away, she apparently didn't notice the two kobolds arguing...eventually Kytum-up gave the idol to Mulukikyip.  After this, Kytum-up followed his leader at a distance, a grim look on his face.The adventurers and the kobolds eventually walk back to the old Smitson farm and the kobold lair.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, they find the lair had been left alone by the restless dead.  The adventurers spend the next day in the kobold lair.from the journal of the druid RowanThe next day the adventurers helped the kobolds collapse the Smitson house over their lair entrance.  Before they did so, Mulakikyip asked Garret, and all of the party members, not to reveal the kobold presence at the farm, or to speak of the dragon idol the kobolds held.  The adventurers solemnly swore to keep the secret.The party left once the house had been collapsed.  The kobold warrior Kytum-up was with them, to guide them to Alderslook, and help them in their mission against the necromancer responsible for the undead.  It would be a three day journey through the wilderness.But first, the party decided to go back to Eaglesford, to resupply, to look into the doings of the hamlet, and to seek out what advice they could.  Once near the hamlet, Rowan decided to visit her master, the druid Greystone.  They would need a place for Kytum-up while in town (the locals would surely attack a kobold on sight...or run away screaming), and his place might be the only one.  (He was a druid, after all, wasn't he?  Aren't they supposed to be all accepting, and stuff?)  Garret reminded her that they had given their word to keep the kobold's lair a secret, and so she should try to tell Greystone as little as possible.  The party left Rowan on the trail to her master's grove, and hurried on into town.Rowan knocked on the lintel of Greystone's hut, while Kytum-up remained hidden outside.  Her master had barely opened the door, when Rowan began:"Hello Master Greystone! So, are kobolds evil?  Because things don't always have to be the way you think they are, right?  Who knows what kinds of things people say about other things they don't know anything about!  And especially if creatures you thought would be evil treat you well, and don't kill you, even when they have the chance and should, -- they might not be evil at all, even if you were taught that they're as evil as anything...  So, kobolds don't have to be evil, do they?"Rowan took a breath.  A few moments of (blessed) silence passed, as Greystone examined his former pupil with a somber gaze.  "No, kobolds do not have to be evil," Greystone said.  "Why do you ask?""Well, we met some, you see...," Rowan began.  Her master remained silent as Rowan told her story, used to the way his former apprentice had with explanations.  It was a blur of words, like a bubbling brook running toward the sea, always moving, always twisting and turning and tumbling, and growing larger as it went on. In the end, after a few simple questions form Greystone (and some sort of detection spell from him as well), Rowan had told her master everything: about the kobolds, about their dragon idol, about the attacking undead.   Then Rowan introduced her master to the kobold Kytum-up.  Greystone spoke draconic, so the two of them talked.  Assured Kytum-up would be well cared for, Rowan left to join her friends.Back at Eaglesford, the party found the hamlet an armed camp, with farmers walking the walls with old spears and ill-fitting leather armor.  Many of the farmer's families were camped out on the village green; some were even camped in the stables!  Asking around, the party found that the Captain and several of the town's more experienced guards were out trying to drive off the goblin raiders.  Many said they expected the Captain to return that night.The adventurers also found themselves the target of questions from their friends and neighbors.  Following Garret's lead, the party members were careful to say only that they had fought and destroyed several of the restless dead, up in the vicinity of the old Smitson farm.  But simple stories are the first to be embellished in the re-telling:  Soon the entire hamlet was talking of Riva felling 5 undead in a single swipe, and of Garret calling on the power of Morwyn as he charged a hoard of ghouls on his war dog Bavic.Thaile went to talk to Mrs. Faegan (the mill owner and cleric of the Great Church - the only cleric in Eaglesford; see session #3.)  Thaile asked if she knew any god by the name of "Kikkuk".  (Kikkuk is the name Mulakikyip had given to his god, the god of the dragon idol.)  Mrs. Faegan did not, but promised to see what could be found in her scrolls and books.Garret went to visit Lord Aelric, but was turned away by the guard at the door.  "He's...not available, right now.  He'll be available tomorrow morning."  Eventually Garret was able to glean from the guard that Lord Aelric was drunk...a very unusual occurrence.  Garret vowed to keep this a secret, and promised to visit the lord in the morning.  "Better make that closer to noon," muttered the guard.The party regrouped at Mr. Burlywire's inn, to catch up on local gossip.  They were treated to several drinks, and Mr. Burlywire was eager to hear of their adventures.  The party members told some, but did not reveal the presence of kobolds in the story.  The farmers, especially, asked to hear of the "Battle with the Restless Dead" several times.Rowan left after a while to return to Greystone's hut.  She found him hunched over a table, still talking with Kytum-up, who sat straight-backed on a high stool.  As she found a place to sit, Greystone spoke to her with a serious tone, in the ancient druidic language: "I am concerned about your plan to go to Alderslook.  You and your friends may be doing more than you are capable of.  And yet, this kobold's people must be helped.  They must, Rowan.  They are important to the balance."  Rowan nodded, and kept her silence as she thought about his words.Late that night, all retired to bed.  Much was on the minds of the townsfolk...The Captain and his men had not yet returned.More of Session #5 to come!</blockquote>

Verification