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Session 22, Wellforn-Selson-Ambush

Coins End 

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Session 22 – 2024-05-25

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==== Summary ====


==== Detail ====

It's the next morning and the group headed north on a journey that started several days ago in Calimport. They started this sesion about two days away from Wellforn. As they travelled the next morning, they came across an unsettling sight. It was a wrecked wagon or coach, laying on one of it's axles. The top appeared to have been torn open. They approached it carefully with Kipp looking for tracks around the scene. He didn't see anything that was out of the ordinary. It looked like this was fairly fresh, likely happening within the last 24 hours. They found three bodies laying motionless on the ground. Two were wearing armor and the third was in plain clothes. At first they thought that the bodies had crossbow bolts sticking out of them. As they got closer, the realized that they weren't crossbow bolts but spikes or quills from some sort of natural creature. Inside the wagon were the remains of a man and woman, they'd pretty much been shredded and gnawed on by some large predator. They rechecked the ground for more tracks but still couldn't identify anything out of the ordinary. 

Without warning, an angry roar burst from the clouds above. Two huge creatures with great spiked tales swooped out of the sky on dragon wings and made a pass over the group. The Manticores flew past firing quills at the party. Elenor took serious damage but remained standing. On the next round, Pyreece moved to heal some of Elenor's damage. Kipp switched to a bow while Audra opted to position herself to attack with a sword. She never was able to hit either of them. Elenor cast Mirror Image making three targets of her. Brandy fired with her bow at them. Tony broke out a bow and fired as well. Oglesby used his sling. It took a few rounds. One of them landed and attacked Oglesby. Several dropped their bows to attack that one with melee weapons. The other made a sweeping pass firing several quills. Audra attempted to spring off the wagon and catch it on the way by but missed. Another couple of rounds and the Manticores were dead. Oglesby took a serious hit. Pyreece healed him some and Brandy gave him a dose of her potion of extra healing. 

They searched the bodies of the people from the wagon. There was a piece of Jasper on each of the armored men, each worth about 50 gold. The driver had nothing on him. The passenger inside the coach wore finer clothing. They found gems on him. A ruby worth about 5,000 gold. A Topaz worth about 500 gold. A Sapphire worth about 500 gold pieces. Two pieces of Amber worth 100 gold each. A piece of Star Blue Quartz worth 50 gold. A piece of regular Blue Quartz worth 10 gold. Tony was concerned about sharing some of the spoils. They assured him that he would get an even share.  They found enough paperwork to determine that the passenger was in the gem trade but nothing to identify him by name. They set out on their way. That evening, they found another place to rest and set up a camp. They did double watches again. Tony was concerned that the witch sent the two Manticores but Oglesby felt that they were just natural wild creatures and not related to her. 

Brandy and Kipp took the first watch. A few hours into it Brandy saw a streaky green glow in the southwest. It was like a giant firefly. The green glow appeared and moved about 5 feet at a decent speed, then just faded out. She ran toward where it had been and asked Kipp if he'd seen it. He hadn't. Everyone woke up at the noise of Brandy talking to Kipp. They stayed around the fire except for Tony who moved out a ways from the fire to see better. Brandy and Kipp moved down to get a closer look but found nothing. At this point, we determined that though most halflings do not have infravision, apparently occasionally some are born with limited infravision while still fewer are born with full infravision. It was determined by roll of the dice that Brandy was one of the lucky few with full infravision. After ten or twenty minutes they gave up and went back to resting while Brandy and Kipp continued their watch. The rest of their watch went by without event. Tony and Audra took the next watch. Neither of them possessed infravision. The rest of the night was mostly uneventful but both Audra and Tony could see flashes of light to the northeast, very distant flashes like lightning. They weren't streaks of lightning but the sky would flash much like a heat lightning. There was no sound of thunder with it. The rest of the night passed and they woke and set out.

They push on to make Wellforn before nightfall. In the distance, to the northeast, they could see some dark clouds. Early that evening, they arrived at the town, or more like, the tavern and a few small buildings. This is what Wellforn consisted of. The sign on the inn read, Wellforn Manor. From outside they could see light within and hear music coming from the structure. They divvied up the gold. Each person including Tony, received 909 gold pieces. Brandy didn't think too well of the place but Oglesby saw it as civilized, "It has a tavern!", he said. They entered the tavern and found it to be doing a brisk business. Among the patrons, one wore full plate armor with a shield with markings indicating he was with Shynkyf. He sat with a young boy in leather armor of the same color. There was an older man in brown robes and a dwarf drinking together. A man in a long coat with a scarf sleeping at the bar. Four men in the corner in dark clothing. There were also servers and a barkeep as well. 

They entered and made their way closer to the fireplace on the east wall. Brandy looked over everyone, especially the four men in dark clothing in the corner. She didn't see the infinity symbol on any of them. Everyone gave them a look over as they entered. Oglesby went straight to the bar and Brandy followed. The barkeep introduced himself as Wellforn and pointed out that it was a nasty night to be traveling. They ordered drinks. Oglesby started hitting on the lady to his left. He introduced himself and she introduced herself as Selson Wellforn. He spent the rest of the evening flirting with her and trying to get her drunk. Brandy joined the others at the table. The rest ordered food and drink. They didn't notice anyone paying especially close attention to what Oglesby was saying. Lizzy brought out the drinks. She tried to figure out where they were from and where they were going. When she found out they were going north she pointed out the armored gentleman and started talking to him about what was going on up north. His name was Paisly and his companion was named Thurvan. They were down here doing some training. Once done, then they were going to move back north to Shynkyf. 

Paisly told them that they had garrisoned Shynkyf up a bit due to what is going on north of there. Over the mountains and on the other side of the forest, there had been a fair amount of activity with the dukes up there. He told them that there had been incursions of orcs, gnolls, and various tribes of goblins. Kipp asked if there was any trouble down here yet. Paisly told him that he'd heard about scouting parties. He hadn't seen anything yet though. He thought the activity seemed to be facing more towards Keltar and out into the desert to the west and even to the east, moving south. He didn't think they were very sizable yet so he didn't think they could make any major moves but they were causing trouble for sure. He told them that Thurvan was the son of the Duke of Shynkyf. He was down here being trained. He said he was good with his sword and good with his brain. They were doing some training on the river tomorrow, water rescue work, how to survive if you are dunked in the water with all this armor on. How fast you can get it off and extricate himself fro the situation. They will be moving north again after that. 

Meanwhile, Selson and Oglesby were talking some more. She expressed interest in joining his group and going adventuring. When Oglesby asked what skills she could bring to the group. She looked over her shoulder and was careful not to be seen when she faded out and a moment later reappeared. Oglesby was taken aback and then told her that it was amazing. When asked if she was a wizard, her response was that she didn't know. She had done a lot of reading on arcane things and tried a few things and found she could do stuff. She told him she makes illusions that look real. He asked if she frightened very easily. She thought she was quite brave. She didn't think her father would approve of her doing such a thing and that she'd likely have to sneak away. She was tired of the tavern employee life. He bought her another drink and told her to think about it. If she was really serious about it, she could meet up with the group as they were leaving in the morning and offer her services. She'd have to show them she could be useful though. She seemed quite thrilled about the prospects.

Lizzy delivered the meat pies and ale to the table with the others. Brandy took the extra meat pie she ordered and took it over to Oglesby and told him to eat something before he falls out of his chair. She stepped back then and gave Selson the stink-eye. Selson asked Oglesby if Brandy was his girl friend. He told her ,"No, we're just friends. We've known each other for a long time. She's a little high strung. You get used to her! Very handy in a fight!". Selson wanted to know more about the party, especially Elenor. Oglesby told her that Elenor was an official wizard, and very talented. She seemed hopeful that Elenor could teach her some things. She asked about Pyreece being a priest. He told her that she was a priest, a little stuffy, but okay. She asked who she followed but Oglesby didn't know. He said, "There's always a god! What day is it?". They booked some rooms for the night. Elenor thought to ask for rooms with baths. Pyreece and Audra perked up at the idea of that as well. They drew baths and set them up in rooms. 

The group of four left at one point. Kipp  and Brandy kept an eye on them. They didn't seem to take special notice of their group. Lizzy didn't know anything about them. They'd been nice enough but always talked in hushed tones, whispering amongst themselves. She'd asked them where they were from but all she got from them was that they were from Calimport. They had arrived about 2 hours before their group arrived. They came in, had a meal, put on their rain gear and headed back out. Kipp went outside under the pretense of needing to go to the outhouse. Brandy went to see about having Oglesby go follow them. Selson told her that Oglesby had lots of good things to say about her. Brandy said, "He'd better, and he'd better eat something!". Oglesby suddenly seemed to have become a little concerned about his weight and was eating very little. She told him to eat and then he should get to bed. Kipp didn't see the four that had left the tavern anywhere. There was a light rain falling. He walked around looking for any activity or sign of them but didn't find anything. 

Oglesby asked Selson about the other man in the room with a woman. She told him the man was called Quellion and the woman was his daughter Annie. She told him that he was a finance sort, a bookeeper. She pointed at another table with a sleepy young man. She told him that Will, that was his name, had a crush on her. She said he comes in all the time and sits for hours making small talk. Oglesby said, "And drinks himself into oblivion I guess.". She said, "Yes, I guess!". Oglesby ordered more drinks for he and Selson. Elenor went off to her bath and to the room. Audra and Pyreece bathed and turned in as well. Brandy went to Oglesby and told him he'd had enough to drink. He told her that he was on his last round. She told him to make sure that it was. Kipp turned in and Oglesby downed his last drink and bid a good night to Selson as he joined up with Brandy and turned in. Oglesby and Brandy took a room. Elenor took a room. Kipp and Tony took a room. Pyreece and Audra took a room. 

In the early hours, they woke to the smell of smoke. They began exiting their rooms and seeing smoke and flames near the stair case. They immediately began banging on doors waking everyone on the floor. The elderly man with the dwarf came out of one of the rooms. The soldier and the dukes son came out of the other room. Kipp went to open the window in his room when he saw a couple of winged devil looking things. They held the window shut and laughed shouting, "BUURRN…BUURRN!". Kipp tried to use his strength force the window open. The devils held the window shut. Pyreece used her flail to smash the window and clear it of any glass shards. The devil creatures flew away. Everyone began climbing out the window and used the rope Kipp was holding to climb down to the ground. Brandy went out first. As she neared the ground, the devil creatures flew up and attacked. She made it to the ground and before she could get her bow up the creatures had flown off. She could see the building was very much engulfed in flames and she hollered up for everyone to get out quickly. Big Tuna went down and then Oglesby, the old man, and the Dukes son went next as the ceilings in other rooms and the hall began to collapse. 

The rest poured through the window and down the rope and then it was Audra's turn. She was the last before Kipp. As she was going down the rope, the devil creatures moved to attack Kipp. She hit the ground as he was attacked by two of them. Audra waited to help break Kipps fall should he need it. The rest moved away from the building as it was starting to collapse all over. Kipp jumped through the window and slid down the roof of the porch and dropped to the ground. He managed to land and not hurt himself. He told everyone that there were many of those creatures in there. Everyone, from their group, to the other people staying there, were running around trying to make sure that everyone got out. Oglesby went running around, calling out for Selson. He found the owner, Selson, and the others that they'd met that evening. Everyone got out okay. It was a devastating loss to the Wellforn's. No one ever caught sight of any more of the impish things that caused this. Kipp quietly asked Elenor if she thought the coin was acting like a beacon and allowing them to be found and attacked. Elenor didn't respond. They tried to determine what to do next. They split up into several houses and were able to get out of the weather for the rest of the evening.

The next morning everyone began coming out to the terrible destruction. Selson was dressed in leathers, dressed more like an adventurer. She had a dagger and a sling. Oglesby introduced the party to her and suggested that she would like to join them and that she had magical skills. He asked her to show them something magical. She said she wasn’t sure what to do, then said, "Well, I can do this!". With that she disappeared. Pyreece went to where she was and reached out for her to see if she was there. Elenor said, "Ah, you know the invisibility spell!". She reappeared and told her that she could also do other things. When asked what, she couldn't name them but she seemed to be able to cast Illusions such as phantasmal force. Elenor agreed to show her some things. After a little talk, Selson asked if Pyreece could also cast spells. Pyreece told her that her spells come from a different source but that she can cast some spells as well. They asked Selson where she learned her skills. She just read a lot and found where she could do some arcane magic. It seemed to come quite naturally to her. She told them that she just wanted to travel and experience adventures. Oglesby had told her tales of their adventures. She seemed to think he was amazing. They finally decided to let her join.

Audra tried to see if Paisly and Thurvan, who she understood would be traveling north, would want to travel with them. They needed to go down to the Calim river and do their water training so they told her no. She checked with the dwarf and the old man to see what their plans were. The priestly man was a druid named Louis and the dwarf was named Grunt. They were heading south to Manshaka. The dwarf was hired protection. After reaching Manshaka, he was going east to Volothamp. They had travelled here from Shynkyf and it was a little crazy up there. There is a large military build up going on up there. He hadn't seen any direct attacks on the town. Keltar, people were a little standoffish but it was mostly fine. Things were getting more normal and then this, he pointed out the sight of the destroyed building. Audra wished them well. The party gathered themselves and their gear and headed out to the north, to Keltar. They hadn't made it too far when they ran into a man wearing chainmail who stepped out of the woods in front of them. He said, "Halt and throw down your weapons!". Audra responded, "Happy to pause and talk, but our weapons stay where they are.". Brandy shouted back to the half orc, "Yeah, I think it's good that you throw down your weapon!". The Half Orcish brute named Raarh attacked just after he told Fido, his wolf, to attack. 

It was a very long battle. More combatants popped up as it went on. There was Saxiron, Tronald, and Taylor Swiftbow. A gnoll named Arf also made a guest appearance. The fight lasted for quite a while with everyone in Tronalds group dying except for Saxiron. He fled. In Selson's first fight, she cast Produce Flame and threw them at various creatures. One went horribly awry and almost hit Kipp. Elenor became invisible after Arf hit her and nearly killed her. She backed away to avoid being hit by again. When Kipp hit Arf, he simply dissolved and vanished, an illusion. Tronald cast Web on Kipp, Pyreece, Oglesby, and Selson which held for most of the round before Selson ignited it and burned it away. Everyone took some damage from that but they were free to fight again. When Brandy fired on Tronald, the sheaf arrow simply bounced off of some sort of invisible shield. With her next attack, she used a fire arrow and hit the wizard. Audra took down Raarh. As he went down, a couple of imps flew onto the battle field. Kipp dropped Tronald but not before Tronald got off a fireball. Oglesby went down from the fireball but Elenor had a potion ready for herself and used it on him instead. Saxiron fell out of the tree he was firing from and was hit on the way down by a shot from Brandy. He survived though. Pyreece was hit by an imp and luckly saved against the poison. Pyreece took out an imp. Selson actually hit an imp with her sling. She shouted with glee. Elenor tried a Magic Missile on the remaining imp but it's magical resistance protected it. Brandy took down the second imp. Saxiron and Taylor decided to bolt, Taylor didn't make it but Saxiron did. The battle ended.

Oglesby checked on Selson and gave her a dose of his potion of extra healing. Pyreece hit Oglesby, Elenor, and herself with healing spells. They searched the bodies and found chainmail, a battle axe, longbow, 20 arrows and a potion on Raarh. On Tronald, they found a spellbook, two daggers, three darts, and a cloak. On Taylor Swiftbow, they found studded leather, a long sword, a dagger, and a long bow. They had about 500 gold amongst them. Elenor cast a detect magic on all of it and found that the bow on Taylor Swiftbow glowed, the robe on Tronald glowed, and his spellbook glowed. Elenor then opened the spellbook and received a blast of damage from explosive runes for 21 damage. The spellbook was destroyed. Elenor, by the grace of a heal just before they started searching the bodies, fell but was able to be saved. Audra took the full brunt while Kipp negated half of it. Audra fell unconscious. Pyreece took care of her after saving Elenor. Selson ran her fingers through Oglesby's hair and said, "You're so brave!". He told her that she did very well. There were some potions used to get everyone walking again. Brandy said, "You just wait till I find out who these fuckers worked for, their going to get an ass kicking!". 

They ended the session there. 

Start the recorder!

Gold = 909 + 71

Experience = 1303 + 130 = 1433