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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sir Kendrik" data-source="post: 1189" data-attributes="member: 123">Here is the next exciting instalment in the adventures of the Axbridge crew. When we left our heroes a group of them were being spied by some huge hyena like dogs.The dogs charged in and when they got into bow and crossbow range Sir Kendrik and Jon McAlpin the Ranger let go a round of bolts and arrows which all connect. The dogs continue unabated and a battle ensues. After a brief struggle 2 dogs are slain on the spot and a volley of bolts and arrows kills another as it ran off. Winter the Wizard’s pet Lion was mauled and needed immediate healing, which it received. Winter noticed that the Gnolls that had been sunning themselves on the hillock above the cave entrance had disappeared.Sir Kendrik realised that they had to go into the cave decided that the best way in was to cross the open plain, which gave the party a view of the fort. This was opposed to the way along the river, which gave them some cover but no view of what the Gnolls were up to. They safely got to the gates of the palisade and entered. The area looked deserted with not a Gnoll in sight. Sir Kendrik chose to look for an entrance to the caves by heading left. Walking very carefully, this path took the party to the top of the hillock above the shack hiding the cave entrance. The heroes continued around till we got to the entrance. Sir Kendrik went in first carefully with Jon next and Br Arton and Winter to follow. The cave widened just in from the entrance and once they were all inside we walked down the tunnel two by two. The party followed the tunnel till it met a t-intersection. Sir Kendrik’s memories of the caves were clouded by time and lead the party in the way he thought was the right way to the main cave. This is where Sir Kendrik thought the Gnolls would keep the captives. He was wrong.The party continued along the passageway and came along a cleft in the cave floor. It was about 25 feet deep and way traversable by a rope bridge. The sounds of moans came in this direction. Sir Kendrik and Winter looked over the top of the cleft and came across a horrible sight. There were about 28 people in the cleft, covered in their own filth and in dried blood, next to them were the remains of the other unfortunates who had been made meals of by the Gnolls. While the party were thinking of ways to help the captives escape a group of Gnolls attacked from the direction the party had come in. Sir Kendrik quickly charged up to the front to fight off these interlopers. Br Arton joined him creating a human barrier that the Gnolls could not pass. Sir Kendrik and Br Arton were making mincemeat of these Gnolls when a volley of arrows came from the other side of the cleft. 3 Gnoll Archers were firing at the heroes. Winter and Jon had to take care of them. Winter decided to cast the illusion of a wall of fog to make it hard for the Gnolls to see. This illusion only fooled one of the Gnolls and the others continued to attack. Jon took down one of them and the others must have felt worried as they ran back to whence they came.Sir Kendrik and Br Arton had killed all but one of the Gnolls who was much bigger than the rest who then ran also. Sir Kendrik was not going to let this one escape and call for re-enforcements. He took off after him and Br Arton followed. Little did Sir Kendrik know but around one of the tunnels corners lay an ambush where 3 other Gnolls lay waiting. These Gnolls attacked Sir Kendrik and Br Arton and the battle continued there till they defeated these ones. In the mean time Jon and Winter had followed the two fighters up this tunnel. Winter then decided to start to head back to the cleft to see to the captives, lighting his way with a dancing lights spell. When the fight was over the others joined Winter back at the cleft. When they arrived back at the cleft, the bridge had been cut. Jon and Winter had come up with the idea of casting a levitation spell on Jon and have him jump the cleft and repair the bridge. On the other side of the cleft was a ladder that they needed to reach the captives. The rope bridge was hauled in and a rope was tied to one end and Jon held the other. Jon made a run up and jumped, unfortunately he didn’t jump far enough and was suspended over the hole. Jon was reeled in like a fish and he made a bigger run up and made it on the second attempt. He repaired the bridge and collected the ladder. The ladder was lowered and Captives were helped out. At this point Sir Kendrik heard the sound of footprints heading out the cave entrance.The heroes continued helping out the captives when Sir Kendrik who was still nearer the entrance than the others smelt smoke and lots of it. Suddenly captives were dropping like flies and it had become increasingly difficult for the heroes to breathe and see. The Gnolls had decided to smoke the party out and this tactic was working fine. Winter came up with some good ideas; they being to keep low and he tore up a cloth and soaked it in water. He then passed them around to all he could. Sir Kendrik, taking Winter’s suggestion got as many of the captives to go back down into the cleft hoping that would protect them. Sadly several dropped before they could return. Jon and Winter both succumb to smoke. Sir Kendrik and Br Arton were the last men standing and were about to drop themselves from smoke inhalation when the smoke started to clear. As the smoke started to recede, the sound of footsteps started coming from the entrance and lots of them. Before Sir Kendrik and Br Arton could catch their breath a bunch of Gnolls charged the two heroes. The Gnolls were intent on charging the heroes into the cleft. Their efforts failed and another pitched battle ensued. Sir Kendrik as is his want took on the biggest Gnoll and in his weakened state quickly succumbed to the blows and the smoke. As Sir Kendrik lay unconscious the big Gnoll took a bite and took a big chunk out of his leg. This will teach Sir Kendrik not to leave his full plate armour behind in his room. After the Gnoll took a bite, the other Gnolls gathered around thinking they would be in for a feast of smoked Knight. The big Gnoll snarled and made this perfectly clear that Sir Kendrik was going to be his spoils of the fight. Br Arton decided to end all ideas of a Kendrik buffet and cast Holy Smite right in the middle of the pack of Gnolls. All of them dropped bar the Big One who was blinded by it momentarily. Br Arton attacked it before hitting it with a searing light spell. This helped Br Arton defeat him.As soon as the Gnolls were defeated, Br Arton went over to Sir Kendrik who was at death’s door yet again and healed him. Once Sir Kendrik came too he got up to help Br Arton tend to the others. Unfortunately 9 captives died because of the smoke. Jon and Winter healed also and the task of leading the captives to freedom began. Sir Kendrik and Br Arton climbed down into the pit and helped the survivors up the ladder. A woman worked her way to Br Arton with the limp body of a young boy in her arms. She begged Br Arton to heal him but there was nothing Arton could have done, the child, called Pitar, had gone to be with Pelor, which he told her. She became hysterical and it took both Br Arton and Sir Kendrik to settle her down. Promising they we were not going to leave him there. Jon and Winter led the captives out of the caves to safety as Sir Kendrik and Br Arton set about the task of cleaning out the caves of Gnolls. The two heroes first headed down to the site of the ambush where a door was. Sir Kendrik opened the door carefully and they entered and found the main cave where Sir Kendrik has slain an ogre on his very first adventure. In this room which had a ledge at the doorway that had stairs leading down to the main area. In this main area were 4 Gnolls. Sir Kendrik and Br Arton picked them off one by one with their Crossbows. The cave had little burrows in it that two of the Gnolls seemed to be protecting or trying to get into, but they were way too big for them.The heroes then worked their way back to the cleft and crossed the rope bridge to the other side to clean out these caves. Again the heroes found a cave sealed by a door. This time Br Arton heard a lot of noise when he had listened to the door. Sir Kendrik again opened the door carefully and was surrounded on the other side of the door by Gnolls. Sir Kendrik attacked them blocking the door, preventing Br Arton from entering before stepping inside. At this point Br Arton stuck his head in the door and with his Helm of dark vision saw that the room seemed full of Gnolls. He saw that there were 3 rows of Gnolls the front 2 rows in various forms of kneeling with bows and arrows and let go a volley of arrows at Sir Kendrik. Some connected but Sir Kendrik was not perturbed, as a Good Knight he knew that a Knight never runs away from a foe let alone back down from them. Also they were vermin and had to be dealt with or they would regroup and continue to harass the area.Against almost overwhelming odds the heroes fought and finally defeated the Gnolls, though one escaped. Sir Kendrik taking great delight in dispatching what appeared to be their leader. More of these little burrows were in this cave as well. The two heroes headed back to the entrance of the caves and asked if a Gnoll had ran out. None had, and Jon asked if he could go back in, He had decided to add a Gnoll claw to his collection. While he was in there he could hear the sound of what seemed like young mewling for their mothers. The party decided that they needed to seal up the caves to prevent the Gnolls reinfesting them. Br Arton used one of his Stone Shape spells to seal the entrance.The party camped the night, healed those who needed it and headed for Axbridge with the liberated villagers. Meanwhile back at Igham, Callin the Rogue had arrived to find out that most of the party were missing on a Gnoll hunt and Callin had found striding into town Valiant, Sir Kendrik’s Destrier with no sign of the young Knight. To make Callin uneasier, Valiant had scratch marks on his front quarters, clearly made by a large animal. Callin met up with the other rogue; Cain and Cain filled him in on what he knew. Callin then had a plan. He headed over to the Constable and chatted to him about the situation with the rest of Callin’s party. An agreement was met to go search for the others and Callin and Cain then walked over to the stocks where the Halfling Brigands remained. Callin told the halflings that he was surprised that they were still alive or here at all, expecting the other halflings to have tried to help them escape. Callin then started to intimidate the halfling in a very subtle way. He offered release for the one that told all they knew about the halfling hide out. The one that hadn’t spoken to Sir Kendrik and Br Arton started to speak, trying to broker a deal with Callin to be released. Callin agreed on the proviso that Cain cast a spell on him so he wouldn’t lie. This spell would activate if he didn’t tell the truth and the party walked into a trap. The halfling agreed, Cain pretended to cast a spell but ended up casting something on the halfling as trails of light followed his hands as he cast! Cain then collapsed to one knee exhausted. Callin was amazed that Cain had actually cast a spell, thinking Cain couldn’t actually do it. The Halfling told all he knew on how to get to the hide out. Back at the caves, the party saw a hooded figure looking at the caves. They approached and realised it was the ranger Andrea. She asked who caused this and the party told her it was they and filled her in on everything. The topic got to Mendel the Merchant and our suspicions of him. She couldn’t believe it and an argument ensued over it with Sir Kendrik and Andrea debating the good character of Mendel. Andrea was getting very agitated and claimed that Sir Kendrik was dismissing her opinions as she was a woman doing a man’s job. She left with Winter in pursuit who tried to settle the waters. The party then collects the bodies from the cairn that they had made the day earlier. The bodies were put in a cart and returned to Axbridge.Sir Kendrik on return to Axbridge visited his father to find out if any one had purchased large amounts of weapons from him. His father was very difficult and returned Sir Kendrik’s questions with more questions, telling Sir Kendrik to ask him what he really wants. Lars also got the feeling that Sir Kendrik suspected him, Sir Kendrik told him that he didn’t suspect him. Sir Kendrik had gotten seriously frustrated by the conversion and left. He then went to the local Harper Lucan and another frustrating conversation with the Harper telling Sir Kendrik to learn exactly what he wants to ask before asking it. Sir Kendrik feeling that he had gotten nowhere joined the rest of the party to head back to IghamEnd Session</blockquote>

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