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Story Hour
Erkonin (Campaign #1) [Session 46: Making Deals with Devils is Stupid as well as Bad]
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<blockquote data-quote="prabe" data-source="post: 8274986" data-attributes="member: 7016699"><p>Session 43: Traveling By Boat Again</p><p></p><p>Dramatis Personae:</p><p>Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)/Wizard</p><p>Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric (Knowledge)</p><p>Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger (Horizon Walker)</p><p>Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)</p><p>Thneed - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave)/Cleric (War)</p><p></p><p>Note: Mo's player was unable to attend because of bad road conditions.</p><p></p><p>GM - Everyone Else</p><p></p><p></p><p>22 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 112)</p><p></p><p>We met at the docks in the morning to board the Glistenspray for our trip to Erlin.</p><p></p><p>Mo, having gotten into some really good pipe-stuff he obtained somewhere in our travels, tied his broom to the back of the boat, strapped himself into the battle hammock and spent a few days completely blissed out. Once in a while he’d come down to the boat to eat and take care of necessities, but mostly there was a lot of bliss and just letting himself be pulled along.</p><p></p><p>Joybell found a place on deck where she could read her Manual of Gainful Exercise and do the workouts in it.</p><p></p><p>Taman found himself a place up in the crow’s nest where he could be out of the way and keep to himself. Thneed found a place on deck where she could examine the holy symbols Mo picked up for her and see which one felt holiest to her.</p><p></p><p>Orryk went to the captain to ask about whether an air elemental could help make the ship go faster.</p><p></p><p>Captain Zelora: Well, if the windsails catch too much wind they can tear. So probably not.</p><p></p><p>Orryk was slightly disappointed, but probably still summoned an air elemental to put it through its paces.</p><p></p><p>The day started out as a lovely fall day, in the 70s and sunny.</p><p></p><p>We passed some ancient ruins -- fortifications along the river -- around sundown, but the boat didn’t stop and we didn’t see anything peculiar about them except that they were ancient ruins.</p><p></p><p>The night passed quietly and without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>23 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 113)</p><p></p><p>Around midday the next day, the Glistenspray passed a river-side village, more or less like Kalmarn and the other villages we passed on the way to Auriqua. Joybell was intent on her workouts and reading, but Taman and Thneed were less focused and paying more attention.</p><p></p><p>Captain Zelora: That’s weird.</p><p>Taman: What?</p><p>Captain Zelora: There doesn’t seem to be anyone in Treskill. There were people in the village last time I sailed by.</p><p></p><p>Taman looked toward shore and saw a person running down the street. A moment later a horse-sized thing sprung out from between two buildings, grabbed the person, and ran off between two more buildings. At about that time, he heard a high-pitched screaming howl. He gave a shout and got the attention of the whole party.</p><p></p><p>Thneed, who saw all of that, immediately jumped off the boat and began swimming for shore in her Mariner’s Armor. Fiona hurried up on deck from where she was reading below, activated the Wings of Flying and flew up in the air, heading in that direction.</p><p></p><p>Orryk came up on deck, saw Thneed swimming by herself, and ran down the side of the boatand across the water to shore so she wouldn’t be there by herself.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Wow! That’s so cool!</p><p></p><p>Joybell mounted Scooby and waited at the railing of the ship impatiently, Scooby pacing back and forth and stamping in place, until the boat got close enough to the dock for him to jump over. Taman also waited for the boat to get to shore rather than using his Cape of the Mountebank to get there.</p><p></p><p>Thneed’s haste to get ashore wasn’t completely headlong -- she stopped outside of town to observe the tactical situation. We all joined her as we got on shore (except Fiona, who stayed up in the air, though near where the rest of the party had gathered).</p><p></p><p>We saw a couple more people running around with packs of the horse-sized things ripping apart anyone they could catch.</p><p></p><p>Taman: How can Mo sleep at a time like this?</p><p></p><p>Thneed recognized these things, she thought. She said that they were Howlers, fiends from Pandemonium (not the Abyss or the Nine Hells, where most fiends are from). They operate in packs. Their howl frightens people and renders them more vulnerable to their attacks. She reminded us that a lot of fiends are resistant to elemental damage and don’t get badly hurt by attacks from normal, non-magical weapons.</p><p></p><p>We were reassured to see some people still alive and hoped that more were hiding in the buildings.</p><p></p><p>We initially saw three of the Howlers in the middle of the main street of the village. Thneed moved into a good position and fired off a couple of arrows. Orryk kept pace with her and fired some arrows as well, but his shortbow’s range isn’t nearly as long as her longbow, so he only got one hit to her two.</p><p></p><p>Fiona flew up and took a position in the air at the end of the main street. She cast a Storm Sphere that caught all three of them -- they were all bludgeoned by the sudden downpour then a lightning bolt shot out and hit one of them.</p><p></p><p>Joybell ran up at Scooby’s top speed then fired off two charges from the Wand of Magic Missile at the one that had been struck by the lightning. Taman took two shots at a different one, hitting, but we could see that his non-magical arrows didn’t make much of an impact.</p><p></p><p>All three of them moved quickly out of the difficult terrain of Fiona’s Storm Sphere -- two of them went between buildings (one on each side of the street) and the other went back down the street, then ducked between some buildings further back. It looked like each of them was mostly focused on the shortest route out of the pummeling rain. But it wound out with them separating to the point that they weren’t amenable to area attacks, and we couldn’t see what two of them were doing.</p><p></p><p>Taman: Are they being controlled? That seemed really intelligent.</p><p></p><p>Thneed put her Hunter’s Mark on the one that had been most hurt, dropping it with an arrow to the heart.</p><p></p><p>Thneed: Pax vobiscum, bitch!</p><p></p><p>Orryk moved to the edge of the town and held his attack until he saw an opponent to fight. Since they’d all left the Storm Sphere, Fiona let that drop and cast a magic missile on the one Taman had shot.</p><p></p><p>Joybell moved into the town and waited to attack something that came in her range. Taman moved up next to her, staying close because her presence holds off fear for those near her. Then he hid behind a building next to her.</p><p></p><p>It was good that he did that, because at that moment one of the Howlers came around the side of a building and saw Joybell standing in the road. It howled a terrible screaming yowl that would have terrified most people, but Joybell and Taman were not frightened.</p><p></p><p>Thneed had to take a few seconds to get into a good position, but Orryk was able to get off a couple of shots with his shortbow, hitting twice. Then he put the bow away and prepared to get into melee. Fiona stayed in the air and cast Magic Missile again, spreading the darts between the two Howlers.</p><p></p><p>Joybell ran up to the closest one and attacked the closest with the Awesome Dwarven Warhammer (which isn’t really hers, but she can use for a while), hitting with two big swings.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Taman! Keep up!</p><p></p><p>Taman did so and attacked, dropping the one she’d hit twice with a sneak attack, then moving to the other one, just a step or two further up the street and hitting it with his longsword.</p><p></p><p>Around this time, Omnath saw three more of them coming in from the other side of the main street and relayed that information to Orryk, who relayed it to the rest of us. Fiona, from her vantage point above the buildings could also see them. They were still far enough away that they weren’t going to be able to get to us for a few seconds anyway.</p><p></p><p>The one we were already dealing with attacked Taman -- getting a hit despite Joybell protecting him with her shield and despite Taman taking a lucky dodge. Taman’s luck kept it from being a critical hit and he was able to do an uncanny dodge to reduce the damage.</p><p></p><p>Thneed got in two really good shots, moving closer to get a good angle on the one that had just attacked Taman.</p><p></p><p>Orryk moved into the main street and looked into the alley where Taman and Joybell were facing the last one standing of the first pack.</p><p></p><p>Orryk: Joybell, three more incoming. Leave that for the others.</p><p></p><p>Fiona slowed down the new ones coming in with a storm sphere, the pummeling rain and lightning doing damage to two of them and creating a difficult area to pass. In that moment, Joybell rode over to Orryk and waited to attack anything that came in range.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Sorry, Taman! You all have got this!</p><p>Taman: I know.</p><p></p><p>Then he attacked and got a good hit with his longsword.</p><p></p><p>One of the new ones, not caught in Fiona’s storm, came between two buildings on the other side of the main street from Taman and Thneed and made its horrible screeching howl. Taman was far enough away not to be affected, but Thneed and Omnath were frightened. Joybell was standing close enough to Orryk that he was in her protective, emboldening aura.</p><p></p><p>Another one came up the same alley and stopped behind the one that had just howled. The third one of the new pack came around the building from a different direction and howled. Only Orryk and Joybell were in its range and were unaffected.</p><p></p><p>Thneed, frightened, ran away from the one that had frightened her, which interfered with her ability to do anything else. Orryk stayed near to Joybell but moved around so he could swing his short sword at one of the newcomers, using his ki to turn that into a stunning strike. The Howler stopped moving and stood stunned. Nice!</p><p></p><p>Fiona split her efforts -- hitting one of the newcomers with a lightning bolt from the storm and shooting magic missiles at that one and the one on Taman. Joybell attacked the same one Orryk had attacked, calling down divine energy to smite the fiend (and finding that it was extra effective because of the fiendish nature of these Howlers).</p><p></p><p>The three new Howlers moved to surround Orryk and Joybell. Well, two of them did. One was stunned and did nothing. None of their attacks were effective though -- one missed Joybell and the other missed Orryk because of Joybell’s shield and his own Shield spell.</p><p></p><p>Thneed shook off her fear and, pissed, moved her Hunter’s Mark to the one that Orryk had stunned, shooting it twice and then using her horde breaker ability to also shoot another of the new ones. Unfortunately this didn’t drop any of them. Orryk got in there with his sword and attacked the one he had stunned and dropped it with his sword and a punch. Then he took another punch at one of the one that wasn’t stunned.</p><p></p><p>We all sort of focussed on the two that were remaining -- Fiona with her lightning bolts and guiding bolt, Joybell with her warhammer and divine smites, Taman with his longsword.</p><p></p><p>One got dropped by Taman before it got to attack again. The other one attacked Joybell but missed.</p><p></p><p>Orryk stunned the one remaining, giving us all an advantage against it, and it finally fell to Joybell’s divinely empowered blows with her warhammer.</p><p></p><p>We only enjoyed the thought that they were all gone for a second before Taman heard some distant howls. He also heard some whimpering noises from inside one of the buildings.</p><p></p><p>While the party gathered together, so we’d all either be out of range or in Joybell’s protective aura, Joybell went a shuttered window where Taman had heard the sounds of whimpering and crying.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Hi. We’re here to help. Where are these things coming from?</p><p>Person inside: Don’t know. They just appeared and started tearing things up.</p><p>Joybell: How long ago did they show up?</p><p>Person: About an hour maybe…</p><p>Joybell: That’s a long time. Stay put.</p><p></p><p>Then she moved back to the group.</p><p></p><p>The new pack of Howlers came from the other side of town. Thneed backed down to one side, trying to keep out of howl range, and held an arrow nocked, ready to let it fly at anything she could. Orryk moved forward, toward where they were coming from. Fiona, in the air, was able to see them first, so she fired a Guiding Bolt at one, but missed. Joybell moved up next to Orryk and Taman next to her, so we were blocking the 15’ wide alley they were coming down, all of us with attacks at the ready.</p><p></p><p>One of them came around the corner into the alley. As soon as it opened its mouth to howl, Thneed put an arrow into its palate. That didn’t stop the horrible screeching scream -- but the only three of us in range were Joybell, Taman, and Orryk, and none of us were going to be affected by the fear. The other two in this pack moved up behind it, but didn’t get close enough to attack us, or let those of us who were waiting with melee weapons ready do anything.</p><p></p><p>Thneed took her shots, including a horde breaker shot at a second one. Orryk moved up and stunned one. Joybell moved up, away from Taman, and attacked, but saved her divine smiting power for a more opportune time.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Come on, Taman! Keep up!</p><p></p><p>Taman kept up, putting his Hunter’s Mark on one and attacking one for a LOT of damage because the beast was distracted by other combatants around it.</p><p></p><p>One of them howled, again only getting the group within Joybell’s aura of protection. Another attacked Joybell but missed. The third one, the one Orryk had stunned, did nothing but drool a little.</p><p></p><p>Thneed missed with a whole round of shots, but fortunately Orryk dropped one with his Shortsword of the Medic.</p><p></p><p>(Orryk's player: Just because Joybell never did, Orryk uses the sword to cast healing word on Taman.)</p><p></p><p>Then he attacked and stunned both of the two remaining ones with a flurry of powerful blows. Joybell jumped scooby over Taman to get between the two howlers and attacked. She dropped one with a divinely powered blow.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Come on, Taman! Stay close!</p><p></p><p>The last one, stunned by Orryk’s fists, fell quickly to Thneed’s arrows and Orryk’s sword.</p><p></p><p>Joybell took a second to sense for fiends in the immediate area and detected none. Taman took a bit longer to listen and then sense for his favored enemies. Thneed, seeing that, sensed for her favored enemies (fiends included) and detected none within five miles.</p><p></p><p>Thneed and Taman set about doing ranger stuff to see if they could figure out where the Howlers had come from, but aside from a general sense that they’d come from the west (in other words they didn’t cross the river to get to the village) they had no idea. Taman tried to detect portals in the area and found none within a mile.</p><p></p><p>While that was going on, Joybell talked to the person in the building again.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: You’re okay now. The Wonderful Knights of Luminosity have taken care of things. There are no more fiends in the area.</p><p></p><p>Then we went back to the boat, which was waiting for us at the docks.</p><p></p><p>Orryk, to Captain Zelora: We didn’t find authorities in town, but we should let folks know what happened. The people in town may need help.</p><p>Captain Zelora: We can stop at the next town and let them know to send assistance.</p><p></p><p>We continued on down river.</p><p></p><p>Taman, to Fiona: Aren’t we supposed to have less fiend activity since the Fiend Wars?</p><p></p><p>Fiona explained to him that since the wars the baseline level of fiend activity is higher than it was before the Severance, but much much lower than it was during the wars.</p><p></p><p>The next town, several hours later, had a flag out on the pier indicating that it had urgent business. So we stopped to take on a pallet of cargo from a merchant who wanted it taken a few towns downstream.</p><p></p><p>While the cargo was being loaded, the party went to talk to the town guards to let them know that Treskill was attacked and people there were in need of assistance. They said they’d send aid.</p><p></p><p>Between the time she spent in the morning, the time between the two villages, and some time working out after dinner, Joybell finished her work with her book and felt very much stronger!! She put the book into her bag, with the intent of donating it to the Basalt Henge. Every hundred years some young novice who they thought needed the assistance could make use of it.</p><p></p><p>The Glistenspray spent the night docked at the town and all was quiet.</p><p></p><p></p><p>24 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 114)</p><p></p><p>The next morning, the Glistenspray cast off bright and early and we continued on our way. It was a grey and rainy day.</p><p></p><p>Joybell did her morning exercises on deck, then bundled up in her cloak out on the bow to watch with Scooby. Thneed spent the morning entertaining herself by sneaking around the deck startling sailors. Taman stayed up in the crow’s nest watching. Fiona and Orryk read and studied down below.</p><p></p><p>Fiona took some time to use her new Scrying spell (and the crystal ball Mo had picked up for her) to take a look at Stately Kang Manor. Everything looked to be doing well -- there were some newly painted walls and some activity.</p><p></p><p>The day passed in quiet sailing. And the night.</p><p></p><p></p><p>25 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 115)</p><p></p><p>Pretty early the next morning, we were woken by yells from the lookouts on the crew.</p><p></p><p>Lookout: Slicks on the water! Slicks on the water! Don’t look! DON’T LOOK!</p><p></p><p>Taman asked one of the crew what that meant.</p><p></p><p>Crew: Ignore what you see in the water.</p><p></p><p>As he was speaking, the boat went into Hell -- we could see people screaming, fiends, fire, torture and horrible things. A literal Hellscape.</p><p></p><p>Then we were out of it and it was a quiet morning on the Hochor River again.</p><p></p><p>The sailor pointed out to us a patch of oily slick on the river surface. It was standing still relative to the shore, not moving with the current of the river. Thneed shot at one, but it didn’t disperse.</p><p></p><p>We went through several of them over the next hour or so. Joybell watched for landmarks in the hellish vistas we passed through, to see if the boat was moving through that landscape as well, but it wasn’t always the same landscape. It didn’t even appear to always be the same lower plane.</p><p></p><p>Taman, to some of the crew: Those are randomly in the river?</p><p>Sailor: They’re here sometimes. Not sometimes.</p><p>Captain Zelora: They’ve been showing up on the rivers since the Severance. They aren’t portals, but I don’t know what they are. The last time I asked I was just told that the world remembers.</p><p></p><p>After we got through the cluster of slicks on the water, the rest of the day passed without incident, Which was good, because that had been horrible.</p><p></p><p>The night was quiet.</p><p></p><p></p><p>26 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 116)</p><p></p><p>The weather was even worse this day than the day before -- both colder and wetter. Joybell bundled up well in her cloak and let Scooby curl around her as she sat in the bow.</p><p></p><p>In the mid-morning, we stopped at a river village to drop off the special cargo we’d picked up a few days ago and to let a ferry cross the river in front of us.</p><p></p><p>And that was the excitement of both the day and the night.</p><p></p><p></p><p>27 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 117)</p><p></p><p>Just at dawn, Joybell (who was sleeping curled up with Scooby in the bow) and Taman (sleeping somewhere else on deck) heard Captain Zellora shout. Mo might have but he was still deep in the good pipe-stuff and stayed in his battle hammock.</p><p></p><p>Zellora: What the naughty word is that?!</p><p></p><p>Followed by a loud thunk and shuddering that shook the whole ship. The others came up out of their cabins at the noise.</p><p></p><p>We saw that someone had knocked a huge log into the river -- it was broken off just above the roots and braced so that it would not float downstream. It didn’t block the entire river, but if anyone failed to see it (like at night) and didn’t sail around it, it would stop the boat cold and make it difficult to get around.</p><p></p><p>Joybell and a few of the crew took some ropes and tried to shift the log from on the deck of the Glistenspray, but the angle was bad for shifting the log that way.</p><p></p><p>Taman looked to the bank, expecting someone to come out at the noise. He was not disappointed -- he saw a 13 year old girl coming down the river bank, followed by a very large (16’ tall) grey, vaguely humanoid figure. It was not human-looking enough to be a giant. The girl was a fey of some sort, Taman told us, so Joybell did her divine sensing (which detects celestials, fiends, and undead) and detected none of those (within 60’, which didn’t include the river bank and mostly covered the boat).</p><p></p><p>Joybell, to a crewmember: Has this been here before?</p><p>Sailor: No. This is new.</p><p>Joybell: So you haven’t seen this girl before?</p><p>Sailor: Never in my life.</p><p></p><p>Taman shouted to the girl on the bank: State your intentions.</p><p></p><p>While he waited for a response, Orryk created a bonfire on the top of the log near the shore to see if we could burn at least some of it and make it easier to shift. The girl got a pouty look at that.</p><p></p><p>Taman: Again. State your intentions.</p><p>Fey Girl: You have things. I may want them.</p><p>Taman: Well, then.</p><p></p><p>Then he drew his bow and took a shot at the girl, hitting her in the shoulder.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Oh, no no no, you can’t stop legit boat travel to rob people like that.</p><p></p><p>Then she mounted Scooby right at the prow of the ship.</p><p></p><p>Someone recognized the giant grey thing as a Grey Render -- they adopt people (or in this case a fey) as their master and work as sort of a defender and bruiser for them.</p><p></p><p>Fiona: We don’t have stuff you want.</p><p></p><p>Then Fiona cast a firebolt and hit the girl with it.</p><p></p><p>Scooby leapt off the boat onto the log and ran along the log as fast as he could. When they were about 20 feet from the shore, Joybell cast Misty Step and they both appeared on the river bank a short distance in front of the girl, holding her attack for something to come to her.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: This is not okay. You can’t interfere with travel and rob people like this. Don’t do this. We know you’re fey.</p><p></p><p>The girl didn’t respond to Joybell in words -- she just made a gesture with her hands and a bolt of sparkling light shot out and exploded in the air over where the party was gathered on the deck of the ship. Thneed and Taman both were entranced by her pretty sparkling lights.</p><p></p><p>Then she walked to the shore, ignoring Joybell entirely, and dove into the water.</p><p></p><p>Orryk and Omnath woke up Taman and Thneed from the hypnotic pattern.</p><p></p><p>Thneed: Where’d she go?</p><p>Orryk: Under the water.</p><p></p><p>The Grey Render attacked Joybell from 10 feet away, thus never letting her get in her own attack. Fortunately it missed with both of its long, clawed arms. After one of Fiona’s firebolts whizzed past without hitting the monster, Joybell rode right up to it and attacked, hitting once normally and once smiting with divine power. After her first hit, it lashed out at her with a retaliatory attack of its own, but missed.</p><p></p><p>The girl swam out deeper into the river and, while near the top of the water, did some gesturing. Those on the boat recognized what she was doing as something they saw Fiona do almost every day -- casting mage armor on herself. Fiona saw this and remembered that she hadn’t had a chance to do that yet -- so she cast her own mage armor.</p><p></p><p>Thneed moved a bit away from the party, to break up area effects, and put her hunter’s mark on the Render, then shot it. Taman followed Joybell’s lead and jumped from the prow of the boat down the 15 feet to the log, keeping his footing on the slick wood. He could see her under the water. He put his hunter’s mark on her then used the Rope of Entanglement to try and tie her up, but she managed to slip away from the entangling rope and stay free.</p><p></p><p>Orryk, to Thneed and Fiona: You help Taman. I’ve got Joybell.</p><p></p><p>Then he jumped off the boat and ran across the water, using a ki point for some extra speed, then attacked the Render.</p><p></p><p>The Render, faced by two gnomes and a celestial-wolf attacked Orryk and Joybell with his two claws and his bite. Joybell protected Orryk with her shield, stopping the bite, but then she got hit by a claw for 16 points of damage.</p><p></p><p>Joybell toyed with the idea of casting Plant Growth out in the water to tangle up and slow down the fey girl, but there was this big monster right there. And if she didn’t attack it she’d be letting Orryk down -- so she attacked twice.</p><p></p><p>After her first hit, as a retaliation, it swung one of its clawed arms at Orryk, hitting him hard.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: I’m sorry! Maybe I should have cast Plant Growth.</p><p></p><p>The girl in the water did something that caused Taman’s mind to flip slightly and suddenly he looked at her with new eyes -- she was his Lady Love and he was going to do everything in his power to protect her. Then she swam further up the river away from the boat and the party.</p><p></p><p>Thneed summoned the divine power she had newly discovered and fired three arrows at the Grey Render, hitting with only one of them.</p><p></p><p>Taman, seeing his lady love so close, not even thirty feet away, jumped into the water and swam toward her.</p><p></p><p>Fiona: What?? Something weird is going on.</p><p></p><p>Back on shore, Orryk switched to attacking with the Death-touch Gloves, so he could heal up a bit from the Render’s powerful attack, but he missed with his attacks and went from that into some defensive maneuvering. The Grey Render attacked Joybell - it missed with its bite, but hit with one of its claws, getting through the displacement effect from her cloak and her plate armor.</p><p></p><p>Fiona, armored up, moved into the prow of the boat and cast a cone of cold that shaped itself around Taman but caught the girl squarely. The girl managed to dodge out of the way of the brunt of the effect, but was still affected by it. We hoped that she might, perhaps, lose her concentration on the charm on Taman in the process of avoiding the cone of cold, but she didn’t seem to have to concentrate on that at all. It just was.</p><p></p><p>Joybell, on shore and only barely paying attention to what was going on in the vicinity of the boat, attacked the Grey Render twice, hitting both times and managing to dodge out of the way of its reflexive claw swipe.</p><p></p><p>The girl, in the water, cast a fog cloud on the prow of the boat -- Joybell and Orryk, both on shore) and Taman (in the water a few feet ahead of the ship) were all outside the range. Taman was able to see that his lady love swam further away from him after creating the fog cloud.</p><p></p><p>Thneed, outside the fog cloud, took three shots at the Gray Render (channeling divine power one more time).</p><p></p><p>Taman, torn between his lady love and his good friend who were clearly fighting one another, swam back toward the log, the fey girl having gone out of his reach in the water.</p><p></p><p>On shore, Orryk attacked the Render and then went on defense again, since that had worked well for him before. The Render attacked Joybell, missing with its bite, but hitting with both of its huge claws, leaving her at about half her normal strength.</p><p></p><p>Fiona flew up out of the fog cloud with the Wings of Flying so that she could see the fey girl. She couldn’t, however, see Taman, who had gone into the fog cloud when he swam toward the log.</p><p></p><p>Fiona: She’s got Taman!!</p><p></p><p>Joybell hit the render twice with her warhammer, dropping it. Then, having heard Fiona’s yell, rode Scooby over to the river bank nearest where she could see the girl, looking for any sign of Taman.</p><p></p><p>The fey girl continued swimming away downstream.</p><p></p><p>Thneed couldn’t see anything through the fog, so she took a leap into the unknown, jumping off the prow of the ship onto the log. Or mostly so. She ended up there, anyway.</p><p></p><p>Taman climbed out of the water onto the log and then managed to clamber up onto the boat, despite the fog cloud. He couldn’t see anything much but he’d heard Fiona.</p><p></p><p>Taman: Fiona, don’t shoot her!! She’s the only girl I’ve ever had a chance with!</p><p></p><p>Then he cast ensnaring strike and attacked the cloud near him. Fortunately he didn’t hit any of the sailors or cut any important ropes on the ship.</p><p></p><p>Orryk ran past Joybell to a point on the shore even closer to the girl and shot at her a couple of times with his shortbow. Fiona got in the final blow with a magic missile spell that killed her. Immediately, Taman was his normal self again, no longer torn between his “lady love” and his friends. The fog cloud also immediately dissipated.</p><p></p><p>Somehow we recovered the fey girl’s body, because we determined that she had no treasure on her. Neither did the render.</p><p></p><p>We managed to break the supports holding the log in place with a combination of strategically placed fire (and firebolts) and brute force (Joybell with the warhammer bashing on things).</p><p></p><p>The log floated away downstream and the Glistenspray, with all of her passengers back aboard, continued to sail toward Erlin.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prabe, post: 8274986, member: 7016699"] Session 43: Traveling By Boat Again Dramatis Personae: Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)/Wizard Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric (Knowledge) Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger (Horizon Walker) Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients) Thneed - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave)/Cleric (War) Note: Mo's player was unable to attend because of bad road conditions. GM - Everyone Else 22 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 112) We met at the docks in the morning to board the Glistenspray for our trip to Erlin. Mo, having gotten into some really good pipe-stuff he obtained somewhere in our travels, tied his broom to the back of the boat, strapped himself into the battle hammock and spent a few days completely blissed out. Once in a while he’d come down to the boat to eat and take care of necessities, but mostly there was a lot of bliss and just letting himself be pulled along. Joybell found a place on deck where she could read her Manual of Gainful Exercise and do the workouts in it. Taman found himself a place up in the crow’s nest where he could be out of the way and keep to himself. Thneed found a place on deck where she could examine the holy symbols Mo picked up for her and see which one felt holiest to her. Orryk went to the captain to ask about whether an air elemental could help make the ship go faster. Captain Zelora: Well, if the windsails catch too much wind they can tear. So probably not. Orryk was slightly disappointed, but probably still summoned an air elemental to put it through its paces. The day started out as a lovely fall day, in the 70s and sunny. We passed some ancient ruins -- fortifications along the river -- around sundown, but the boat didn’t stop and we didn’t see anything peculiar about them except that they were ancient ruins. The night passed quietly and without incident. 23 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 113) Around midday the next day, the Glistenspray passed a river-side village, more or less like Kalmarn and the other villages we passed on the way to Auriqua. Joybell was intent on her workouts and reading, but Taman and Thneed were less focused and paying more attention. Captain Zelora: That’s weird. Taman: What? Captain Zelora: There doesn’t seem to be anyone in Treskill. There were people in the village last time I sailed by. Taman looked toward shore and saw a person running down the street. A moment later a horse-sized thing sprung out from between two buildings, grabbed the person, and ran off between two more buildings. At about that time, he heard a high-pitched screaming howl. He gave a shout and got the attention of the whole party. Thneed, who saw all of that, immediately jumped off the boat and began swimming for shore in her Mariner’s Armor. Fiona hurried up on deck from where she was reading below, activated the Wings of Flying and flew up in the air, heading in that direction. Orryk came up on deck, saw Thneed swimming by herself, and ran down the side of the boatand across the water to shore so she wouldn’t be there by herself. Joybell: Wow! That’s so cool! Joybell mounted Scooby and waited at the railing of the ship impatiently, Scooby pacing back and forth and stamping in place, until the boat got close enough to the dock for him to jump over. Taman also waited for the boat to get to shore rather than using his Cape of the Mountebank to get there. Thneed’s haste to get ashore wasn’t completely headlong -- she stopped outside of town to observe the tactical situation. We all joined her as we got on shore (except Fiona, who stayed up in the air, though near where the rest of the party had gathered). We saw a couple more people running around with packs of the horse-sized things ripping apart anyone they could catch. Taman: How can Mo sleep at a time like this? Thneed recognized these things, she thought. She said that they were Howlers, fiends from Pandemonium (not the Abyss or the Nine Hells, where most fiends are from). They operate in packs. Their howl frightens people and renders them more vulnerable to their attacks. She reminded us that a lot of fiends are resistant to elemental damage and don’t get badly hurt by attacks from normal, non-magical weapons. We were reassured to see some people still alive and hoped that more were hiding in the buildings. We initially saw three of the Howlers in the middle of the main street of the village. Thneed moved into a good position and fired off a couple of arrows. Orryk kept pace with her and fired some arrows as well, but his shortbow’s range isn’t nearly as long as her longbow, so he only got one hit to her two. Fiona flew up and took a position in the air at the end of the main street. She cast a Storm Sphere that caught all three of them -- they were all bludgeoned by the sudden downpour then a lightning bolt shot out and hit one of them. Joybell ran up at Scooby’s top speed then fired off two charges from the Wand of Magic Missile at the one that had been struck by the lightning. Taman took two shots at a different one, hitting, but we could see that his non-magical arrows didn’t make much of an impact. All three of them moved quickly out of the difficult terrain of Fiona’s Storm Sphere -- two of them went between buildings (one on each side of the street) and the other went back down the street, then ducked between some buildings further back. It looked like each of them was mostly focused on the shortest route out of the pummeling rain. But it wound out with them separating to the point that they weren’t amenable to area attacks, and we couldn’t see what two of them were doing. Taman: Are they being controlled? That seemed really intelligent. Thneed put her Hunter’s Mark on the one that had been most hurt, dropping it with an arrow to the heart. Thneed: Pax vobiscum, bitch! Orryk moved to the edge of the town and held his attack until he saw an opponent to fight. Since they’d all left the Storm Sphere, Fiona let that drop and cast a magic missile on the one Taman had shot. Joybell moved into the town and waited to attack something that came in her range. Taman moved up next to her, staying close because her presence holds off fear for those near her. Then he hid behind a building next to her. It was good that he did that, because at that moment one of the Howlers came around the side of a building and saw Joybell standing in the road. It howled a terrible screaming yowl that would have terrified most people, but Joybell and Taman were not frightened. Thneed had to take a few seconds to get into a good position, but Orryk was able to get off a couple of shots with his shortbow, hitting twice. Then he put the bow away and prepared to get into melee. Fiona stayed in the air and cast Magic Missile again, spreading the darts between the two Howlers. Joybell ran up to the closest one and attacked the closest with the Awesome Dwarven Warhammer (which isn’t really hers, but she can use for a while), hitting with two big swings. Joybell: Taman! Keep up! Taman did so and attacked, dropping the one she’d hit twice with a sneak attack, then moving to the other one, just a step or two further up the street and hitting it with his longsword. Around this time, Omnath saw three more of them coming in from the other side of the main street and relayed that information to Orryk, who relayed it to the rest of us. Fiona, from her vantage point above the buildings could also see them. They were still far enough away that they weren’t going to be able to get to us for a few seconds anyway. The one we were already dealing with attacked Taman -- getting a hit despite Joybell protecting him with her shield and despite Taman taking a lucky dodge. Taman’s luck kept it from being a critical hit and he was able to do an uncanny dodge to reduce the damage. Thneed got in two really good shots, moving closer to get a good angle on the one that had just attacked Taman. Orryk moved into the main street and looked into the alley where Taman and Joybell were facing the last one standing of the first pack. Orryk: Joybell, three more incoming. Leave that for the others. Fiona slowed down the new ones coming in with a storm sphere, the pummeling rain and lightning doing damage to two of them and creating a difficult area to pass. In that moment, Joybell rode over to Orryk and waited to attack anything that came in range. Joybell: Sorry, Taman! You all have got this! Taman: I know. Then he attacked and got a good hit with his longsword. One of the new ones, not caught in Fiona’s storm, came between two buildings on the other side of the main street from Taman and Thneed and made its horrible screeching howl. Taman was far enough away not to be affected, but Thneed and Omnath were frightened. Joybell was standing close enough to Orryk that he was in her protective, emboldening aura. Another one came up the same alley and stopped behind the one that had just howled. The third one of the new pack came around the building from a different direction and howled. Only Orryk and Joybell were in its range and were unaffected. Thneed, frightened, ran away from the one that had frightened her, which interfered with her ability to do anything else. Orryk stayed near to Joybell but moved around so he could swing his short sword at one of the newcomers, using his ki to turn that into a stunning strike. The Howler stopped moving and stood stunned. Nice! Fiona split her efforts -- hitting one of the newcomers with a lightning bolt from the storm and shooting magic missiles at that one and the one on Taman. Joybell attacked the same one Orryk had attacked, calling down divine energy to smite the fiend (and finding that it was extra effective because of the fiendish nature of these Howlers). The three new Howlers moved to surround Orryk and Joybell. Well, two of them did. One was stunned and did nothing. None of their attacks were effective though -- one missed Joybell and the other missed Orryk because of Joybell’s shield and his own Shield spell. Thneed shook off her fear and, pissed, moved her Hunter’s Mark to the one that Orryk had stunned, shooting it twice and then using her horde breaker ability to also shoot another of the new ones. Unfortunately this didn’t drop any of them. Orryk got in there with his sword and attacked the one he had stunned and dropped it with his sword and a punch. Then he took another punch at one of the one that wasn’t stunned. We all sort of focussed on the two that were remaining -- Fiona with her lightning bolts and guiding bolt, Joybell with her warhammer and divine smites, Taman with his longsword. One got dropped by Taman before it got to attack again. The other one attacked Joybell but missed. Orryk stunned the one remaining, giving us all an advantage against it, and it finally fell to Joybell’s divinely empowered blows with her warhammer. We only enjoyed the thought that they were all gone for a second before Taman heard some distant howls. He also heard some whimpering noises from inside one of the buildings. While the party gathered together, so we’d all either be out of range or in Joybell’s protective aura, Joybell went a shuttered window where Taman had heard the sounds of whimpering and crying. Joybell: Hi. We’re here to help. Where are these things coming from? Person inside: Don’t know. They just appeared and started tearing things up. Joybell: How long ago did they show up? Person: About an hour maybe… Joybell: That’s a long time. Stay put. Then she moved back to the group. The new pack of Howlers came from the other side of town. Thneed backed down to one side, trying to keep out of howl range, and held an arrow nocked, ready to let it fly at anything she could. Orryk moved forward, toward where they were coming from. Fiona, in the air, was able to see them first, so she fired a Guiding Bolt at one, but missed. Joybell moved up next to Orryk and Taman next to her, so we were blocking the 15’ wide alley they were coming down, all of us with attacks at the ready. One of them came around the corner into the alley. As soon as it opened its mouth to howl, Thneed put an arrow into its palate. That didn’t stop the horrible screeching scream -- but the only three of us in range were Joybell, Taman, and Orryk, and none of us were going to be affected by the fear. The other two in this pack moved up behind it, but didn’t get close enough to attack us, or let those of us who were waiting with melee weapons ready do anything. Thneed took her shots, including a horde breaker shot at a second one. Orryk moved up and stunned one. Joybell moved up, away from Taman, and attacked, but saved her divine smiting power for a more opportune time. Joybell: Come on, Taman! Keep up! Taman kept up, putting his Hunter’s Mark on one and attacking one for a LOT of damage because the beast was distracted by other combatants around it. One of them howled, again only getting the group within Joybell’s aura of protection. Another attacked Joybell but missed. The third one, the one Orryk had stunned, did nothing but drool a little. Thneed missed with a whole round of shots, but fortunately Orryk dropped one with his Shortsword of the Medic. (Orryk's player: Just because Joybell never did, Orryk uses the sword to cast healing word on Taman.) Then he attacked and stunned both of the two remaining ones with a flurry of powerful blows. Joybell jumped scooby over Taman to get between the two howlers and attacked. She dropped one with a divinely powered blow. Joybell: Come on, Taman! Stay close! The last one, stunned by Orryk’s fists, fell quickly to Thneed’s arrows and Orryk’s sword. Joybell took a second to sense for fiends in the immediate area and detected none. Taman took a bit longer to listen and then sense for his favored enemies. Thneed, seeing that, sensed for her favored enemies (fiends included) and detected none within five miles. Thneed and Taman set about doing ranger stuff to see if they could figure out where the Howlers had come from, but aside from a general sense that they’d come from the west (in other words they didn’t cross the river to get to the village) they had no idea. Taman tried to detect portals in the area and found none within a mile. While that was going on, Joybell talked to the person in the building again. Joybell: You’re okay now. The Wonderful Knights of Luminosity have taken care of things. There are no more fiends in the area. Then we went back to the boat, which was waiting for us at the docks. Orryk, to Captain Zelora: We didn’t find authorities in town, but we should let folks know what happened. The people in town may need help. Captain Zelora: We can stop at the next town and let them know to send assistance. We continued on down river. Taman, to Fiona: Aren’t we supposed to have less fiend activity since the Fiend Wars? Fiona explained to him that since the wars the baseline level of fiend activity is higher than it was before the Severance, but much much lower than it was during the wars. The next town, several hours later, had a flag out on the pier indicating that it had urgent business. So we stopped to take on a pallet of cargo from a merchant who wanted it taken a few towns downstream. While the cargo was being loaded, the party went to talk to the town guards to let them know that Treskill was attacked and people there were in need of assistance. They said they’d send aid. Between the time she spent in the morning, the time between the two villages, and some time working out after dinner, Joybell finished her work with her book and felt very much stronger!! She put the book into her bag, with the intent of donating it to the Basalt Henge. Every hundred years some young novice who they thought needed the assistance could make use of it. The Glistenspray spent the night docked at the town and all was quiet. 24 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 114) The next morning, the Glistenspray cast off bright and early and we continued on our way. It was a grey and rainy day. Joybell did her morning exercises on deck, then bundled up in her cloak out on the bow to watch with Scooby. Thneed spent the morning entertaining herself by sneaking around the deck startling sailors. Taman stayed up in the crow’s nest watching. Fiona and Orryk read and studied down below. Fiona took some time to use her new Scrying spell (and the crystal ball Mo had picked up for her) to take a look at Stately Kang Manor. Everything looked to be doing well -- there were some newly painted walls and some activity. The day passed in quiet sailing. And the night. 25 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 115) Pretty early the next morning, we were woken by yells from the lookouts on the crew. Lookout: Slicks on the water! Slicks on the water! Don’t look! DON’T LOOK! Taman asked one of the crew what that meant. Crew: Ignore what you see in the water. As he was speaking, the boat went into Hell -- we could see people screaming, fiends, fire, torture and horrible things. A literal Hellscape. Then we were out of it and it was a quiet morning on the Hochor River again. The sailor pointed out to us a patch of oily slick on the river surface. It was standing still relative to the shore, not moving with the current of the river. Thneed shot at one, but it didn’t disperse. We went through several of them over the next hour or so. Joybell watched for landmarks in the hellish vistas we passed through, to see if the boat was moving through that landscape as well, but it wasn’t always the same landscape. It didn’t even appear to always be the same lower plane. Taman, to some of the crew: Those are randomly in the river? Sailor: They’re here sometimes. Not sometimes. Captain Zelora: They’ve been showing up on the rivers since the Severance. They aren’t portals, but I don’t know what they are. The last time I asked I was just told that the world remembers. After we got through the cluster of slicks on the water, the rest of the day passed without incident, Which was good, because that had been horrible. The night was quiet. 26 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 116) The weather was even worse this day than the day before -- both colder and wetter. Joybell bundled up well in her cloak and let Scooby curl around her as she sat in the bow. In the mid-morning, we stopped at a river village to drop off the special cargo we’d picked up a few days ago and to let a ferry cross the river in front of us. And that was the excitement of both the day and the night. 27 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 117) Just at dawn, Joybell (who was sleeping curled up with Scooby in the bow) and Taman (sleeping somewhere else on deck) heard Captain Zellora shout. Mo might have but he was still deep in the good pipe-stuff and stayed in his battle hammock. Zellora: What the naughty word is that?! Followed by a loud thunk and shuddering that shook the whole ship. The others came up out of their cabins at the noise. We saw that someone had knocked a huge log into the river -- it was broken off just above the roots and braced so that it would not float downstream. It didn’t block the entire river, but if anyone failed to see it (like at night) and didn’t sail around it, it would stop the boat cold and make it difficult to get around. Joybell and a few of the crew took some ropes and tried to shift the log from on the deck of the Glistenspray, but the angle was bad for shifting the log that way. Taman looked to the bank, expecting someone to come out at the noise. He was not disappointed -- he saw a 13 year old girl coming down the river bank, followed by a very large (16’ tall) grey, vaguely humanoid figure. It was not human-looking enough to be a giant. The girl was a fey of some sort, Taman told us, so Joybell did her divine sensing (which detects celestials, fiends, and undead) and detected none of those (within 60’, which didn’t include the river bank and mostly covered the boat). Joybell, to a crewmember: Has this been here before? Sailor: No. This is new. Joybell: So you haven’t seen this girl before? Sailor: Never in my life. Taman shouted to the girl on the bank: State your intentions. While he waited for a response, Orryk created a bonfire on the top of the log near the shore to see if we could burn at least some of it and make it easier to shift. The girl got a pouty look at that. Taman: Again. State your intentions. Fey Girl: You have things. I may want them. Taman: Well, then. Then he drew his bow and took a shot at the girl, hitting her in the shoulder. Joybell: Oh, no no no, you can’t stop legit boat travel to rob people like that. Then she mounted Scooby right at the prow of the ship. Someone recognized the giant grey thing as a Grey Render -- they adopt people (or in this case a fey) as their master and work as sort of a defender and bruiser for them. Fiona: We don’t have stuff you want. Then Fiona cast a firebolt and hit the girl with it. Scooby leapt off the boat onto the log and ran along the log as fast as he could. When they were about 20 feet from the shore, Joybell cast Misty Step and they both appeared on the river bank a short distance in front of the girl, holding her attack for something to come to her. Joybell: This is not okay. You can’t interfere with travel and rob people like this. Don’t do this. We know you’re fey. The girl didn’t respond to Joybell in words -- she just made a gesture with her hands and a bolt of sparkling light shot out and exploded in the air over where the party was gathered on the deck of the ship. Thneed and Taman both were entranced by her pretty sparkling lights. Then she walked to the shore, ignoring Joybell entirely, and dove into the water. Orryk and Omnath woke up Taman and Thneed from the hypnotic pattern. Thneed: Where’d she go? Orryk: Under the water. The Grey Render attacked Joybell from 10 feet away, thus never letting her get in her own attack. Fortunately it missed with both of its long, clawed arms. After one of Fiona’s firebolts whizzed past without hitting the monster, Joybell rode right up to it and attacked, hitting once normally and once smiting with divine power. After her first hit, it lashed out at her with a retaliatory attack of its own, but missed. The girl swam out deeper into the river and, while near the top of the water, did some gesturing. Those on the boat recognized what she was doing as something they saw Fiona do almost every day -- casting mage armor on herself. Fiona saw this and remembered that she hadn’t had a chance to do that yet -- so she cast her own mage armor. Thneed moved a bit away from the party, to break up area effects, and put her hunter’s mark on the Render, then shot it. Taman followed Joybell’s lead and jumped from the prow of the boat down the 15 feet to the log, keeping his footing on the slick wood. He could see her under the water. He put his hunter’s mark on her then used the Rope of Entanglement to try and tie her up, but she managed to slip away from the entangling rope and stay free. Orryk, to Thneed and Fiona: You help Taman. I’ve got Joybell. Then he jumped off the boat and ran across the water, using a ki point for some extra speed, then attacked the Render. The Render, faced by two gnomes and a celestial-wolf attacked Orryk and Joybell with his two claws and his bite. Joybell protected Orryk with her shield, stopping the bite, but then she got hit by a claw for 16 points of damage. Joybell toyed with the idea of casting Plant Growth out in the water to tangle up and slow down the fey girl, but there was this big monster right there. And if she didn’t attack it she’d be letting Orryk down -- so she attacked twice. After her first hit, as a retaliation, it swung one of its clawed arms at Orryk, hitting him hard. Joybell: I’m sorry! Maybe I should have cast Plant Growth. The girl in the water did something that caused Taman’s mind to flip slightly and suddenly he looked at her with new eyes -- she was his Lady Love and he was going to do everything in his power to protect her. Then she swam further up the river away from the boat and the party. Thneed summoned the divine power she had newly discovered and fired three arrows at the Grey Render, hitting with only one of them. Taman, seeing his lady love so close, not even thirty feet away, jumped into the water and swam toward her. Fiona: What?? Something weird is going on. Back on shore, Orryk switched to attacking with the Death-touch Gloves, so he could heal up a bit from the Render’s powerful attack, but he missed with his attacks and went from that into some defensive maneuvering. The Grey Render attacked Joybell - it missed with its bite, but hit with one of its claws, getting through the displacement effect from her cloak and her plate armor. Fiona, armored up, moved into the prow of the boat and cast a cone of cold that shaped itself around Taman but caught the girl squarely. The girl managed to dodge out of the way of the brunt of the effect, but was still affected by it. We hoped that she might, perhaps, lose her concentration on the charm on Taman in the process of avoiding the cone of cold, but she didn’t seem to have to concentrate on that at all. It just was. Joybell, on shore and only barely paying attention to what was going on in the vicinity of the boat, attacked the Grey Render twice, hitting both times and managing to dodge out of the way of its reflexive claw swipe. The girl, in the water, cast a fog cloud on the prow of the boat -- Joybell and Orryk, both on shore) and Taman (in the water a few feet ahead of the ship) were all outside the range. Taman was able to see that his lady love swam further away from him after creating the fog cloud. Thneed, outside the fog cloud, took three shots at the Gray Render (channeling divine power one more time). Taman, torn between his lady love and his good friend who were clearly fighting one another, swam back toward the log, the fey girl having gone out of his reach in the water. On shore, Orryk attacked the Render and then went on defense again, since that had worked well for him before. The Render attacked Joybell, missing with its bite, but hitting with both of its huge claws, leaving her at about half her normal strength. Fiona flew up out of the fog cloud with the Wings of Flying so that she could see the fey girl. She couldn’t, however, see Taman, who had gone into the fog cloud when he swam toward the log. Fiona: She’s got Taman!! Joybell hit the render twice with her warhammer, dropping it. Then, having heard Fiona’s yell, rode Scooby over to the river bank nearest where she could see the girl, looking for any sign of Taman. The fey girl continued swimming away downstream. Thneed couldn’t see anything through the fog, so she took a leap into the unknown, jumping off the prow of the ship onto the log. Or mostly so. She ended up there, anyway. Taman climbed out of the water onto the log and then managed to clamber up onto the boat, despite the fog cloud. He couldn’t see anything much but he’d heard Fiona. Taman: Fiona, don’t shoot her!! She’s the only girl I’ve ever had a chance with! Then he cast ensnaring strike and attacked the cloud near him. Fortunately he didn’t hit any of the sailors or cut any important ropes on the ship. Orryk ran past Joybell to a point on the shore even closer to the girl and shot at her a couple of times with his shortbow. Fiona got in the final blow with a magic missile spell that killed her. Immediately, Taman was his normal self again, no longer torn between his “lady love” and his friends. The fog cloud also immediately dissipated. Somehow we recovered the fey girl’s body, because we determined that she had no treasure on her. Neither did the render. We managed to break the supports holding the log in place with a combination of strategically placed fire (and firebolts) and brute force (Joybell with the warhammer bashing on things). The log floated away downstream and the Glistenspray, with all of her passengers back aboard, continued to sail toward Erlin. [/QUOTE]
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Story Hour
Erkonin (Campaign #1) [Session 46: Making Deals with Devils is Stupid as well as Bad]
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