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Session 27, The Spider Fortress

Coins End 

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Session 27 – 2024-07-06

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==== Summary ====



==== Detail ====

Banderas was elated that they'd made it across the bridge. He didn't think that was possible. He seemed very impressed with the group and their skills. They began discussing going Northeast, following the river and making their way through the mountains heading North to the Forest of Mir. From their they decided they could go their separate ways. Before they left, they went to the Hobgoblin cave to see if they left anything of any value inside. Kipp and Audra went into the cave. Audra provided lighting and backup support. It was a very nasty, smelly place. They searched it and found a lot of broken and worthless weapons, bedding in some areas, an area where they relieved themselves, and an area with cooking utensils. They'd had enough of this cave and left. Once outside, many of them grabbed up infinity pins off of the Hobgoblin corpses in case they needed them. They left the area and started East and then Northeast, following the river. 

As they crested a ridgeline, they spotted a lot of Gnolls heading South, right at them. At first they thought they could find a spot on a little rise near by to hide while they passed. Kipp wanted to attack and kill them of course. They were thinking about doing that when they saw them searching through the woods and figured they were going to be found and would have to fight. While hidden and watching them, it became very apparent that there were a lot of them, a whole lot of them, like five hundred or so. They all wore the black of Daresh's army. Kipp really wanted to attack them, pulling the coin out from under his shirt. He felt a surge of strength and power coursing through his veins. 

Oglesby pointed out to Kipp that he was looking a little frayed around the edges and wondered if the coin needed to be passed form one person to the next to keep anyone from becoming consumed by it's evil. Kipp's eyes had turned almost solid white. Holding the coin in his hand, Kipp felt that he could use this coin to bend the will of others to his desire. The problem was that he hadn't spent enough time with the coin to quite know how to do it. He knew he could, but he'd been resisting it all this time and didn't know how to do it. He put the coin away under his shirt and this time deep enough that it was touching his skin. His eyes didn't changed much as he did so. 

Banderas suggested going back toward the river. He remembered an old copper mine up a path along the way. They backed out of the area and made their way to this mine. The path was very overgrown and very hard to see. Kipp stayed in the back trying to cover their tracks. Around 1:00 am, they decided to stop and rest for the night. Pyreece healed Audra and Kipp some more. They discussed getting Kipp to relinquish the coin for a while, giving his body some time to recover from carrying it. He had no desire to give it up. He felt it was necessary to carry it so he can learn more about it's power and how to use it. He felt he could use the coin for good. Audra reminded him that in the end, we can't stop him and if he loses control of himself, we'll all likely die as well. Both Oglesby and Brandy thought it would be better if he handed it off. Big Tuna agreed with them. 

Banderas picked up on the conversation and wanted to know about the coin they were talking about. Elenor explained the coin that Daresh had and how we had a coin made that would allow us to counter the power of her coin. Banderas pointed out that Kipp's eyes looked funny.  He asked if the coin controlled him. Kipp told him it didn't. Banderas asked if the coin controlled the witch. Kipp told him that he wasn't sure. "As it gains strength, maybe it does. We know it allows her to control this army." Tony said, "Eh, it's a magic piece of shit. Put it out here and I'll smash it to pieces and we'll be all done, right? Then we'll get the one from the witch bitch and get hers to.". Then he turned to Brandy and asked, "Brandy are you with me?".  Brandy agreed that it sounded like a good plan. Audra reminded them that it takes this coin to get the other coin. She told them that we had to have similar power or we can't get near her. Oglesby said, "That it looks like that if anyone holds it too long, then they'll wind up being just like her and we can't afford that!". 

Kipp started moving away from the group. Audra caught up with him and asked him where he was going. Kipp told her that he was moving away from them. He was tired of the arguing over the stupid coin. He told her he was fine and he was going to sleep. He set up his tent and went inside. Audra and Pyreece set out their bed rolls near the tent to keep an eye on him. Brandy told Elenor, "I don't like any of this shit!". Elenor replied, "You don't like magic do you Brandy?". Brandy gave a simple reply, "No! Present company excluded.". Tony spoke up saying, "Yeah, you remember those guys back in Calimport? Yeah, they hated magic too because of this kind of shit!". 

Tony added, "So this chickydo is moving armies and stuff all over the place and it's all because of some freaky coin like he's got?". Oglesby chimed in that he thought that before it was all over with, Kipp will be the one doing it. He added, "If he's not willing to give up the coin now, then he sure as hell is not going to do it later.". Tony said, "We can't have that! We can't have Kipp going all nutty on us. Then we'll have two witches to deal with. He's kind of a girl, right? What's to say that they aren't going to join forces and shit!". Brandy said, "I never liked this evil defeating evil shit anyway! It didn't make any since to me.". They finally settled down and began to rest.

As Kipp was laying in his tent, attempting to sleep, he pulled out the coin again. He caressed it's edges and pondered, "Such a simple thing!". He felt a surge of energy move through his body. He had a sudden realization of abilities and skills that only a moment ago eluded him entirely. But he is told it is a vile thing and he need only to cast it away and it would be lost to all. But no, it speaks to him. It whispers things that he can't quite make out but offers a sense of empathy and camaraderie like it's part of him. "A half blood, are you a half elf or half man. Are you the least of both or the greater of either?" It too is a copy that longs to be more than it's predecessor. He felt destined for more. A passion swelled within him that he could impose a greater good on all. All he can consider right now is working, training, and fighting, so that others can be free of tyranny and bondage, that justice would be served, and that goodness would prevail. 

As he considered the coin, he realized that he had lost something however, in the struggle. What is good for Kipp? Why must the needs of the others be paramount. Is he not worthy of the things in life that he helped others attain? He risked his life daily that others may be free to pursue wealth, stature, respect, and power while his deeds are forgotten. He is mocked as a half blood, someday he too will grow old. By then, he could have a kingdom, wealth, fame, and a time when he is not the servant but the served. Yes, those in your land would strive to curry your favor. They would long to be in your presence and live in awe of the power you wield. It is an intriguing thought. "Why not me?", he thought. With these thoughts, he slipped the coin back under his shirt and felt it's warmth against his flesh. His mind drifted into his familiar Elven semi conscious trance as the voices of the coin soothed his mind.

Scoot's took the first watch. As his watch was coming to an end, they heard voices, a female voice, Banderas's voice and a couple of others. They heard, "Damn, damn, damn!". Everyone started waking up. They heard Banderas say, "Are you sure?". Scoots said, "Yeah, fucking shit ton!".  Banderas said, "Damn! I should have known, they are masterful trackers! Mostly by scent.". He looked to the rest of the group to see if they were awake. He told them that Scoots backtracked our trail during her watch and spotted the gnolls coming up the pass. They are following us! Scoots estimated a hundred or more. They couldn't fight that many. Banderas suggested that they try to disorient them by splitting up. They pulled out a map and pointed out where they were. He pointed out where there were tower ruins near the beginning of the river Agis. 

Banderas suggested that his group take a more Northerly approach to the tower ruins while the other group takes a more Westerly approach. He pointed out a peak in the distance and told them when they reached that peak, they should turn North and they would come to the river. Follow it East to it's beginning. What's left of the tower is there and that is where they should meet up. Kipp suggested that they should use brush and aromatic plants to rub over their bodies as they go to confuse their sense of smell. They broke camp, moved out of the woods to the base of the mountains and split up. They looked for aromatic plants as they headed out West toward the peak Banderas had pointed out. After they split up, Audra did point out that Banderas and his group are outlaws. "It is quite possible that the Gnolls are not chasing us or even that his party is moving ahead to set up an ambush for us. We should be careful.", she said.

They moved through woodland areas with no indications of an army around. They picked a place and set up a camp to rest. They set up multiple people on each watch. While camped, the person on watch heard the Gnolls approaching. Everyone got up and they scurried off to the west. The Gnolls were hot on their heals for a while. They finally came across an area with lots of spiderwebs. They moved forward and found a web sack that had something large in it. As they approached it, they were attacked by two large spiders. They killed them and moved on. They were attacked again by three more. They fought them and killed them. They came across a third group of 5 or 6 of them and one of them was gargantuan. They fought them with a couple of them being bitten and poisoned. The big one killed with one bite. Audra went down when she was bitten by one of those. Fortunately, she was the only one bit by the huge spider. She was later bandaged and healed after the poison was neutralized. 

As the progressed on, they found a couple of more bodies and fought even more spiders. On one of the bodies they found elven chainmail and a heavy crossbow. On the other body they found some plain equipment and a small silver cube. They exited the spider area moving Westward. They made the turn North and eventually found some water. This is the river Agis. It didn't take long to find the ruins of the tower. They moved through the water for a bit and made their way closer. They heard the sound of a bird call. As they got closer, they saw Sneaks waving from on a rock. They moved into the camp with the others and were happy to see everyone was fine. They explained how they were chased by a large group of Gnolls but appear to have lost them when they found the spider nest area. They explained how they had to fight their way throught the spider territory, describing the battles and told them about the bodies they'd found. 

Banderas told them that only a few of the Gnolls chased them. He explained how they'd ambushed the Gnolls, ten of them, and killed them. They'd found some of the infinity pins and collected them. They had 10 of those now. He said that one Gnoll was taken alive, or more like, "Before it died, it claimed that the Witch Queen had greater influence then they'd thought.". He explained how she now ruled the lands of 6 Dukedoms. How their troops moved wherever they wanted at will. Banderas wasn't sure how much of what he'd claimed was true, but the Gnoll did tell them that Daresh was winning the war. Banderas suggested moving Northwest from here. He told them that staying just in the woods that way would bring them to some Elves. They are not friendly Elves though. The have a reputation for being Xenophobic. He looked to Kipp and told him that he didn't think they liked half-Elves much either. 

Before they started their rest, Elenor cast detect magic spell on everything they'd found. Out of everything she had, she found the only things glowing with magic were the Heavy Crossbow, the Wand, and the Cube. The Elven Chainmail did not glow. She identified the three things that did glow. The Heavy Crossbow was a Crossbow of Speed. This allowed the rate of fire to be doubled for this weapon. The weapon will automatically cock itself but in surprise situations, that did not help. It also gives the wielder first fire in any melee round. It is also +1 to attack and damage. The wand is a Wand of Frost with 6 charges and duplicates the wizard spell Ice Storm, Cone of Cold, and Wall of Ice. 

The cube was Daern's Instant Fortress. When activated, the cube grows to form a tower 20 feet square and 30 feet high with arrow slits on all sides, and a makialated battlement atop it. The metal walls extend 10 feet into the ground. It has a small door which will open only at the command of the owner of the fortress, even Knock spells will not open it. The Adamantite walls are unaffected by normal weapons other than catapults. The tower can absorb 200 points of damage before collapsing. The damage sustained is cumulative and the fortress cannot be repaired except by a Wish spell. A Wish spell will restore 10 points. The tower springs up in one round with the door facing the owner. The Door will open and close instantly at his command. Creatures and companions of the owner must be careful not to be caught by the fortresses sudden growth. Anyone so caught will sustain 10 d10 points of damage.   

We stopped this session here.

Start the recorder.

Exp: 1092 + 109 = 1201