SESSION TWENTY-FIVE: a lesson in humility
NIK’s TWENTY-FIFTH SESSION JOURNAL
Well, that, as they say, was not how we expected that to go.
Our ruse of hitting the Bugbears, then the Yuan-Ti, had worked up to this point. Hit and run tactics had yielded a couple of minor victories that perhaps got us feeling a little overconfident. We yearned for bigger kills. We got what we wished for.
Jorie began our assault on the bugbear lair with repeated lightning strikes from a Call Lightning. We blew the doors off the place - literally. As we moved in our first mistake (and probably the biggest) was not protecting Jaag as we moved into what we knew was an ambush point. Roguish bugbears dealt heavy damage to the dwarf, and we never quite recovered. Those two dozen or so bugbears went down easily. Next we were faced with a huge bolted gate. Luckily, the bugbears couldn’t stand to simply wait us out, or perhaps they felt the need to protect their young in a different section of the lair, but eventually they came out at us.
We entered the bugbear chief's Great Hall, and that is about all I remember.
Kellen tells me I was under the effects of a confusion spell, and I can find no reason to disagree. When I recovered my faculties fully, Jaag was dead, and Jorie was almost dead - in the form of a great bear of the north. The fact he hadn't changed back was the only thing to tell me he was not yet dead.
His return to gnomish form moments later told me that it was too late to do anything about it. We fought to a point where we could regroup, and we decided to use our teleport scroll (Rodrigo's typical hanging back had forced him to use the other when he got himself locked out of the fight) and return to Verbobonc. I was able to take everyone with the help of a little magic to reduce Kellan's size. We would leave no bodies to be desecrated by our foes. Rodrigo stayed behind, saying he would be fine. We expect him to be able to teleport to us tomorrow, or soon after.
As we left, we heard the sound of slaughter. The Yuan-Ti had used this opportunity to take the valley, and were killing the bugbear children and women by the score.
We will deal with them later.
-Nikolai Dhavros
*****
KELLAN’s TWENTY-FIFTH SESSION JOURNAL
After taking several moments to regroup, we moved slowly toward the double doors at the end of the hallway. Nik suspected the bugbears were spying on us through the obvious watchholes in the door, and a crossbow bolt fired through the hole quickly discouraged that activity. We passed the temple doors and instead turned left down to the end of the hallway. As Nik tried to finesse the door's lock, we were attacked from behind by a spellcasting female bugbear; she dropped a flame strike on our position, and dashed back around the corner. Quickly turning to engage, we came around the corner just in time to see three other bugbear fighters protecting her; as we began to fight, they fled toward the temple doors and began to close them. Jaag bravely lept to the door on the speed of his magic boots, and prevented its closing; we moved into the room beyond to do battle.
A large temple/throne-room awaited us; at least 60 feet long and 40 feet wide, with the bugbear chieftain (named Shruzgrap?) on the throne, the spellcasting woman at his right hand, and two fierce leopards at heel. (Shruzgrap is apparently a ranger of some skill, as his dual-wielding swords would shortly show.)
A dozen bugbears lurked in the shadows and sprag on us as we entered; Jaag continued to move towards the bugbear chieftain while I engaged several bugbear rogues. Jorie shapeshifted into a polar bear and moved to stand by Jaag, while Rodrigo, staying somewhat behind us invisibly, had the doors slammed shut and bolted before he could get through (which gave him good position to see the escape of the women and children of the bugbear clan, who made good their escape while we were engaged with the leaders).
Nik was the victim of a confusion spell which kept him out of battle for about half the time, and while I was able to occupy about five bugbears on my own, thanks to the magical properties of my armor and sword, killing them one by one did not allow me to get closer to Jaag and Jorie; the two of them fell to the predations of the ranger chieftain, the spellcaster, the leopards, and several rogues that fought them in the center of the room. Rod risked using his teleport scroll (the one given us for an emergency return to Verbobonc) to get through the wall and into the throne room; and although he was running low on 'whammy', he did have several scrolls that were put to good use, including a web spell that ended up saving us, as the main party was ensnared while I finished off the remaining free bugbears and dragged Jorie's body out of the web to bring it back with us (Rod retrieved Jaag's from the center of the web). Once Nik shook off the effects of the confusion spell, we prepared to return home. Nik had one scroll left that would take all but one of us, but Rod volunteered to stay behind, as his casting the teleport from the scroll seemed to give him confidence that his sorcerous powers would soon be able to replicate the feat.
And so we returned to the temple with two slain comrades and the letter you have undoubtedly seen from Stirling Dale. We await your instructions on whether you wish us to return there, or whether you would prefer I and my comrades pursue another course of action. I am certain that no matter your decision, we will easily discover more evils to overcome and more good to spread.
I remain, in the service of the Great Knight,
Yours faithfully,
Kellan Evershar
*****
JORIE’s TWENTY-FIFTH SESSION JOURNAL
Most of the events were a blur. Jaag needed help, Kellan was occupied, Nik was confused, and Rod was taking care of his own problems. I knew that the polar bear form would give me the strength I needed, but I didn't realize that the tough skin of the bear wouldn't be reinforced by my barkskin.
Unfortunately, that mistake would be my undoing. I remember the leader of the bugbears with his wounding sword, and several of their roguish giant smelly goblins, and the Maglubiyet-kissing whore. I remember the pain. I remember peace.
-----
I remember waking as a polar bear in a cool forest. Maybe Rod had come in and teleported us back home, because the forests reminded me of the Dark Wood by Mirrormere. There seemed no need to change from the bear form, so I walked for a time through the wood, eventually coming to a small set of burrows in a clearing. Several badgers were there, so I changed form to be like them; I didn't want to distress them.
I watched the kits play for a while until I realized that one of the adults watching over was Ripper. My own friend Ripper, lost to me fighting against the kobolds. Ripper padded over to my side and sat beside me watching the kits contentedly.
Slowly day passed into night, and in the night a preternatural brightness came across the moon. It focused itself into a glowing silver ball that drifted down into the clearing and formed into a form of an elven woman. This, I knew, was my Lady Ehlonna. Joy leapt into my heart, and I tried to speak, but all that came out were badger barks. "Hush," she said. "Jorie, you've been delivered here by the hand of your enemies, but you won't stay long. I can see that you've been experiencing life from the point of view of your brothers. That is a good thing. I intend for your education to continue when you return. You shall not be permitted to return to humanoid form until you can assume the Thousand Faces."
She smiled again, "That is simple penance for losing focus of your friends' needs and vulnerabilities. Be careful in the big world, little one, and do not return too soon."
-----
My Lady's form blurred as I was pulled away from the wood and delivered to my family. There was much work to do. The smelly bugbears survived hidden in the jungle. Stirling Dale still threatened the valley and therefore the world outside the valley. The Yuan-Ti abominations still threatened the world with the possession of the gate.
I am slightly limited now, although my paws are flexible enough. I can speak, even though I am bound to the form of the Brothers as my natural shape. I need to come up with some better protection in combat if I'm going to need to go wading in so much.
-----
The bugbears are dead now, and we have their sword of wounding. I don't know what the next step is. Perhaps a small strike on the Yuan-Ti. We know where the vampires are holing up now, though, thanks to some communing I did with the local nature spirits. The giant wasps could be troublesome, but we should be all right if I can ward against them. There should also be some way to counter them.
Stirling is much too powerful for us to handle, and he sent some of his minions to attack us last night. Maybe now he means to attack us on his own. Maybe with Rodrigo back to help us we could survive against the vampires. Maybe I need to commune again, and see if I can find the numbers and types of vampires in the region.
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RODRIGO's TWENTY-FIFTH SESSION JOURNAL
*****
RODRIGO’s TWENTY-FIFTH SESSION JOURNAL
At long last some peace and quiet back in civilization. It has been a while (as I have been separated from my journal) but I finally have a to chance write something here. As usual I intend to keep it brief. I reckon I don't have much time as I plan to indulge in as many whores and pints as I can before my return to the land that time forgot. It seems that no matter where I go I am tangling with these damn bloodsuckers. First it was John Wells, then the Yuan-Ti, and now Kellan's "Friend". I have pretty much decided that it is my fate to take care of these leeches so I have given up any hope of simply leaving and letting them feast on lizards and snakes. At times I think I am more committed to this mission than Kellan or any of the others. I have no clue what a "letter" from the vampire was supposed to do for him. My guess was it would land him in the red light district curing two bit hookers of the clap for the next year. It certainly would not qualify him as a Champion of Goodness or whatever he aspires to. My guess is the letter reads something like this:
"Please excuse Kellan from Killing us. He has come down with the sniffles and will not be up to the job at this time."
XXOOXXXO
The Bad Guys
So I figure that as long we can get the bad guys to sign a waiver that clears us of blame for innocents they may kill, then we should be golden, at least with Kellan's folks. Hey this Paladin thing does not sound so bad, maybe I can get this gig. At least me and Toad might get a nice steed to carry us around.
If things had kept going in this direction, though, I would have spent a week out here in this nasty Jungle with nothing more to show for my work than a hundred mosquito bites and a she-dog fiancée. So finally we get down to business and take it to these damn bugbears. As always, initially things went well. Jorie’s lightning show was spectacular and blew a nice hole in the bugbear lair. But when we finally got stuck into it my folks start dropping like badgers. Nothing pains me more than to leave treasure behind but we pretty much had to leave the bugbear leaders in one piece and drag Jorie and Jaag back to get patched up... hopefully. Well with any luck I will wake up tomorrow in a pool of my own vomit with a hooker under each arm.... and then it's time to deliver some WHAMMY.
