*dragged under*
Will this journey ever end? The crew are on the road with Lord Brierhew, accompanied by Jemna Gleamsilver, the sneaky Zhentarim (whatever that means) gnome, heading for the Carnath Roadhouse - where they will drop their cargo and then return to Waterdeep for more. At least, that's what Lord Brierhew wants - the party, however, are on the trail of the stolen goods being transported by the cultists - and they'll be keeping a beady(-ish) eye on what's happening...
Starring, in order they sit around the table:
Nyvan, (played by Jason) a elven knight who is currently intent on keeping his head down - cos every time he lifts it up, someone tries to chop it off.
Venmir, (played by Brett) an elven clergyman, who has problems with authority and personal cleanliness.
Sigurd, (played by Iain) a travelling swordsman, best friend of Ardred Brierhew, and chief negotiator for the group.
Rodin, (played by Lorne) the sullen dwarven axeman, not known for his understanding of what time of day lunch is eaten, or his thespian abilities.
Nandrim, (played by Hilton), the ridiculously brave elf mage who lashes out at anything around him when he's angry. A bit like the Hulk, but less green, strong or smashy.
and The DM, (played by Alex), who loves to comment in blue. And writes this blog. He's also a bit of a git and likes to make life difficult for his players.
The group are now back in the full swing of things and the adventure continues with another session mainly made up of roleplay. Less action, more chance for stupid, I say.
The ogres lay dead in the road.
The heroes, together with the other guardsmen (now numbering one less) and the indomitable Lord Brierhew stood above the massive corpses revelling in their victory. Venmir sat down to relax.
"Get up! No time for resting or camp, there's several hours of day light left!" shouted Brierhew as he stomped past, commenting to Sigurd about the lazy workshy elven priest. Everyone but Venmir laughed aloud. He wept silently and secretly into his fox-tail hoody.
As the group continued, they realised they had crossed the ridge and the Mere of Dead Men lay before them. Several score miles across at the point the road would cross it, it was the only way from Waterdeep to Neverwinter by road - unless you took a massive detour past the Sword Mountains - a dangerous route at best.
It took two more days of strenuous but uneventful travel before the group reached Carnath. A single building roadhouse, it had two levels and high walls, the base of which were stone and the upper levels wood. The wagons queued up by the massive gate. Before he walked over to the gate, Brierhew addressed his men, and Venmir.
"Take it easy in here, boys, and try to keep a civil tongue. And whatever you do, don't fuck with Bog Luck, he'll chop your arms off and strangle you with your own hands."
He banged on the gate and spoke to the guard briefly. Moments later, a huge half-orc appeared at the gate and folded his arms around Brierhew, greeting him warmly. He summoned the first two wagons in, and the men filtered through the gate. Bog Luck, the half-orc warrior, pointed out the stables, rooms and kitchen. The heroes headed for the latter, intent on a drink and some food. They noticed the wagons being emptied into the warehouse under the kitchen. It was non-cultist wagons being emptied.
As they waited in the kitchen, thin stew, old bread and weak ale [provided for free, they looked around. A well-looked after building, full of labourers and guards. The cook, Gristle Pete, was a whingy fat man with low standards of cleanliness. A group of workers walked in and announced that they were swapping with some others in the emptying of the wagons.
Sigurd and Nandrin walked outside to see the final non-cultist wagon and one of the cultist wagons being emptied into the warehouse. Nandrin cunningly noticed that the cultist boxes were taking longer to be dropped off and told Sigurd as such. The pair them decided to join in, after a brief chat with Bog Luck. After grabbing a box off the cultist wagon and being told off by the half-orc, they grabbed a box from the other wagon, and followed a cultist in. The cultists were going into a different room in the warehouse and when they tried to follow, they found that Bog Luck had followed them in and he directed them to another pile in the main room. Sigurd announced quietly to Nandrin that he reckoned the massive half-orc was in on the cultist's work.
Sadly, they were now stuck helping and the pair of them ended up emptying the entire wagon while the half-orc looked on, scowling.
They rejoined their mates and they all decided to end their evening off in their newly found quarters. Eager to ensure nothing happened while they weren't watching, Nandrin, Nyvan and Venmir decided to set a guard on the balcony to keep an eye on the warehouse from midnight.
Just at midnight, Gristle Pete threw everyone out of the kitchen, claiming he needed his sleep and moaning about rats making noise all the time and keeping him awake.
Nyvan watched on from the balcony across the courtyard. Nodding to the wandering sentry when he passed. The sentry got more and more curious, eventually asking Nyvan what he was up to. Happy with the explanation, but still confused by the fact he just stood there for three hours, the guard moved on.
When Venmir took his turn at the balcony, the guard became more suspicious. For five hours now, someone had been stood in almost the same place, either drinking, or staring off into space or otherwise looking busy. The guard confronted the priest. His protests about smelly snoring dwarves or lack of beds seemed to appease the guard, but he saw him walk straight for a door in the corner of the courtyard. He couldn't see who answered the door, but he heard an angry voice. Venmir nipped back into the room.
Moments later, there was a furious pounding at the door and Bog Luck let himself in. He cursed loudly and extensively, warning the heroes to stay inside the rooms, quite casing the warehouse and to stop acting all strange, or he'd chop their arms off, etc....(not too imaginative). The group's protests were ignored and he stormed out the room. They decided to not post a sentry any more.
The next morning they went for gruel in the kitchen where, once again, Gristle Pete was moaning about the noisy rats under his room the night before. When queried about the rats by Rodin, he admitted that it wasn't every night and it had only started a few weeks before, but it was bloody annoying, all the scratching and hissing was annoying!
The group decided to go for a ride to explore the area, and followed the road into the swamp. After a short trip, they discovered the point where the road ended and the construction of a new road had begun. Confident now that the entire thing wasn't a scam, they returned to the roadhouse in time for lunch. More stew, bread and weak ale.
Determined to find out what was happening with the stolen goods, Rodin came up with a plan. Act drunk, pass out somewhere and then avoid getting chucked out so he examine the place at his leisure. Impetuously, he enacted his plan immediately, chugging back half a dozen ales in quick succession. He staggered theatrically to his feet. Announcing loudly that he was drunker than he'd ever been before (but sounding remarkably sober to everyone in the room), he lurched over to Sigurd and hugged him.
"Get off me, you fool!" whispered Sigurd loudly.
"I've never know a dwarf handle his liquor so poorly!" announced Brierhew.
Rodin stumbled across the room, straight-legged, bouncing from chair to table, and bumping into everything in the room between him and the door. Some things he walked into twice. He sang a dwarven drinking song loudly, and proclaimed again how drunk he was, before stumbling through the doorway, looking over his shoulder to see who was watching, winked overtly at Nandrin and then clearly flung himself head first down the stairs in a quite obviously fake performance (he rolled a 3 on his performance skill check).
Everyone in the kitchen shook their heads and turned back to their lunch (yes, Rodin had planned his ploy poorly, and stumbled out of the kitchen at 3 in the afternoon). Nyvan went downstairs to check on him and helped him behind some barrels.
"Lie here for 8 hours," said Nyvan, " and you should have most everyone fooled. Idiot."
Rodin gave up on his ruse and returned to the kitchen, but kept a low profile.
Later that night, the crew returned to their room to plot some more. Finally, they came up with a plan. Sigurd would invis himself and sneak into the warehouse. At the last moment, Venmir decided to join him, asking Nandrin for some magical invisibility.
Timing the guards, Sigurd headed off and Venmir followed. At least he thought he did, as he wasn't sure where the skald was. He went down into the courtyard and Sigurd entered the warehouse. He waited a few seconds to let Venmir in, then shut the door. Venmir waited in the courtyard, not really sure what was going on.
Sigurd listened at the door to the other room. Behind it he heard scraping and scratching, just like Gristle Pete said! He stepped to the other side of the warehouse and cast a magical silence over the door, then grabbed the handle, only to find the door locked. He cursed (silently) and made his way back to the room. Venmir hurried back to the room when he saw the door open and close.
As Sigurd relayed what he'd seen, they all cursed. They had no way of opening a locked door without smashing it down - and then waking the entire compound. They debated their options, which included stealing the large ring of keys on Bog Luck's belt (which they swiftly discounted).
Dismayed, they sat back. Just as a quick, quiet knock at the door was followed by the door opening and a small figure slipping inside (ooer). It was Jemna!
"We're saved!" swooned Nandrin.
She asked what they'd been up to while she was gone and they explained all. She suggested they all head for the warehouse - she could handle the lock. When Sigurd mentioned the guards, she left the room and returned ten minutes later with a cheery response, "The guards will no longer bother anyone."
They went into the warehouse, carefully, and Jemna quickly picked the lock, letting them into the strong room. Inside there was enough crates for maybe two wagons, but not three? What the...! They began to search the room. After a few minutes, they found little, apart form Nandrin who found a box, with a lid, and nothing in it. When he tried to lift it, he couldn't! What a wimp! He called the others over.
They all tried, with no luck, to lift the box.
"With a triumphant shout, Nyvan jumped forward and tilted the box sideways - and it moved! Underneath was a ladder leading to a dark tunnel heading off in one direction. The crew, fully equipped, headed down and walked along the tunnel warily.
Within minutes, they found themselves in deadly combat with a squad of lizardfolk walking in the opposite direction. There was only half a dozen, and the combat did not make it past the first rank (Nyvan and Rodin), apart from a few javelins thrown at Venmir, and then flung back by Sigurd.
The tunnel emptied into the swamp, inside a copse of trees, about 500 yards from the roadhouse. There they found a load of lizard tracks and followed them. Despite losing sight of the trail on at least one occasion, they continued into the swamp, now and then doubling back to avoid a particularly vile piece of swampland, or when Venmir got them lost.
As they traipsed through the disgusting swamp, two large crocodiles suddenly leapt from the water, surprising Sigurd and Rodin. They fought back, Sigurd neatly dodging the beast, but the other grabbed Rodin's leg and, despite Rodin's feeble attempts to swat it, would have dragged him to an underwater death, if not for a well-aimed arrow from Venmir. Rodin thanked him profusely.
The journey continued until the party came across a basic camp made out in the swamp. Several lean-tos surrounded a stone plinth, where a fire had recently been put out. Standing around the camp were ten lizardfolk, who leapt to the attack - all bar one.
Nandrin ran before his friends and launched a Thunderwave into the lizardfolk, catching them all. Sadly, some of them were unaffected and they leapt on the near-defenceless mage and pummelled him to the ground in one round. There was a chorus of "ouch" and "oooof" from around the table. No matter the fact he wounded them all, he was out of the fight.
The battle was ferocious, with everyone getting hit and facing more than one lizardman. The heroes slowly smashed the lizardfolk and towards the end of the battle, Venmir healed some of the party, bringing Nandrin back to his feet. The mage leapt to his feet, and turned to face the lizardman behind him, who still hadn't attacked and was watching keenly from twenty feet away. The others slew the last of the beasts in behind him and Nandrin narrowed his eyes at the remnant of the camp.
Without hesitation, he unleashed a spray of fire from his hands towards the peaceful creature. The reptile leapt to the ground, getting away with only a slight singing.
To his surprise, rather than retaliate, the creature put his hands out to his side and said, "Why you burn me? Me jus wanna talk!"
After a brief second of shock (and some IRL cursing about Jar-Jar Binks), Nandrin stood down.
And we stopped for the night.
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