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Session 25, Draconians in the Basement

Paldegora 

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Session 25 – 2023-07-22

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==== Summary ====

The Company Clandestine started the session off looking into the valley from the structure they'd just won. Symon and Angelique came into the back door of the gate house and entered a small anti-chamber. Angelique took the lead in case there was trouble. They walked into an area that was directly below the rampart. It was full of straw beds, buckets, and a brazier. They entered the door leading into the first floor of the north tower. There were real beds here and some chests. Angelique continued up stairs, opened the door leading to the rampart, and called out to the others. They entered the tower and searched the top floor, then the first floor and the area under the rampart. They didn't find anything. Cal-El had gone to the other tower and found on the second floor, a weapon rack, a bed, and some general supplies. Nothing worth noting.

The main party moved into the central area under the bridge from the north side. There was a set of stairs leading up and through the trap door in the center of the bridge. There were braziers and barrels in there as well. As Eryn made it to the other side, she heard sounds of movement, clanging. It was like pots and pans along being suffled about with the sound of chains moving as well. There was a large staircase in front of her leading down. She moved slowly down those and found goblins in a kitchen of sorts. These were goblins much like Duzzt, and were chained up. They hadn't noticed her and since Symon was not with them, she backed out and then fetched Symon. 

Symon entered the area with the rest of the party behind him and spoke to them. He said, “Peace my brothers!”. The goblins freaked out and pulled on their chains shouting, ”Don’t kill us! Don’t kill us!”.  They bore the Wyvern patch. Symon told them that they meant them no harm and that they were safe from them. To the northwest of them was another room full of straw bedding and a brazier. The goblins called out, “Don’t hurt us! Where the others at?”. Symon told them that their captors had been defeated. They asked, “They is dead?”. Symon answered, “They is!”. They asked, “You not kill us?”. Symon asked, “Do you intend to harm us?”. They answered, “We hurt nobody, went want to go home!”. Symon asked if they knew where the keys to their chains were. They said, “Big dracon have the keys”. They didn’t remember finding any keys amongst the piles of ash where the draconian had exploded. Eryn picked one of the locks without any trouble. The other lock was damaged and wouldn’t work. She called up Xor to see if he could break it. He broke the lock without any issue. They thanked us for freeing them. Symon asked where they would go now. They said they would go west to the mountains but they had no family, they were all dead.

Symon asked them about the draconians. He asked how many more they had seen. They only indicated a bunch. They said, “Bunch at big stone house!”. Symon asked, “Down the hill, in the valley?”. They indicated yes. They said, ”They start coming two three moons ago! Grish-ta-nak say Grizzolo send them.“. Symon pointed at the wyvern patch and asked, “You ever see one of those, a real one?”. They answered, “Grish-ta-nak, oh yes, we see too much!”. Symon asked, “Is Grish-ta-nak one of these?”, pointing at the wyvern on the patch. They look at the patch at the wyvern symbol and color and said, “Grish-ta-nak! Nasty!”, while nodding their heads. They said something about Grizzolo when Symon cut them off asking, “Where is Grish-ta-nak?”. They answered, “Stone house!”. Symon followed up with, “Where is Grizzolo?”. They answered, “He come!”. Symon asked, “Have you seen him?”. They shivered and answered, “Yes, scary, big scary!”, waving there arms. They continued, “He come and eat. Goblin have to feed him. We tired. Hands hurt, back hurt! They mistreat us, they don’t feed us, they whip us and beat us and make us work harder!”. Symon tells them to eat whatever they want. They started eating and offered food to the party. They also started stuffing food into bags to carry.

Symon asked if they were expecting anyone soon, someone important, like a big dignitary. They said no, “A big army came through the other day!”. Symon asked where they were headed but the goblins didn’t know. They said, “They just came through and went under bridge. The rest of army down below.”. Symon asked if there were as many down below as went through the gate before. They nodded, “Down mountain, in town.”. Symon asked, did most of them leave?”. They answered, “No, only part!”. Eryn asked through Symon, “How will you go to get back to their mountain?”. They answered, “They go south and then west. They not go north!”. They wished them luck. They asked if they could leave now and were told they could go. They scrambled up stairs and out of site. Xor ran up stairs and warned Cassandra that the goblins were coming out and not to shoot them. She saw them come out and scurry off to the south.

They searched the kitchen to find a way into the lower part of the southern tower but found none. The exited up through the trap door in the center area and made their way to the tower. There was a staircase in the center spiraling down. As Eryn started down, she was hit by two magic missiles. Symon recognized the darts and called out, “Magic missiles! Enemies afoot, to arms!”. Eryn rushed down the remaining stairs and engaged a draconian. There was a second one behind her, on the opposite side of the tower room. Cal-El rushed down behind her and they both attacked the first one. The battle raged on with the draconian casting a stinking cloud causing Cal-El problems with fighting. Symon called out to Cassandra to come help which she did. Angelique and Xor made it into the room where Xor engaged the other draconian and Angelique fired on the first draconian. 

Very quickly the second draconian cast a web spell clogging up the whole room with webs, hindering movement for some and completely stopping others. Cassandra climbed down the stairs trying to avoid the webs but failed and was caught up in them, coughing from the stinking cloud spell. Symon moved down behind her and pulled her back out and up the stairs. The webs were hindering their attempts to put down these two so Angelique ignited the webs burning them away in an instant. Everyone in them took a little damage but they were freed again. The first drconian had fallen and within a round or so, the second one fell as well. They searched the area and found the booty stash. Eryn, Xor, and Angelique divided up the three potions of extra healing they found. Symon took the scroll of Remove Fear. Angelique cached the potion of cold resistance. 

They rested at the structured while Xor and Cassandra stood up the dead along the wall to make it appear to be manned. The night passed with the only event being a 2 inch snowfall. The next morning, the group ate and set out down the hill to the first village. They could see movement in the village but couldn't make out what kind of creatures they were. In order to conceal their movement, they used the winter wolf pelts to warm them and to camouflage them. As the road leveled off, Cal-El noticed oddities in the snow off the road. He inspected it to find broken draconian and bugbear armor. There were broken weapons that were similar to those used by the bugbears and gnolls. The scene didn't make sense. The armor was broken and crushed, not shredded. There was a spot that looked burned. As they contemplated what might have befallen the defeated ones here, Cassandra noticed big rocks all over the place, especially all over the road. She said, “Why would there be big rocks in the road?”. That indicated possible giants or yeti's about. 

Cal-El tried to cover everything so it didn't look disturbed. They moved on down the road. As they started into the wooded area, it became obvious to Xor that they were on the wrong side of the road and he suggested that they all move to just off the eastern side of the road. As they were doing so, loud screams ripped through the air as two ogre's charged the Company. 

The week ended there.

Start the recording!

==== Detail ====

This is the first week with Owlbear Rodeo 2.

This week, the bulk of the group waited on top of the bridge over the structure housing the gate to the north. They were staring into the valley below as Symon and Angelique made their way into the back door. Symon opened the door and they entered a small anti chamber. Angelique took the lead as she was better protected. She opened the next door to reveal a hallway with drain grates in the floor and a cabinet on the wall to the right. The hallway led into a round room that matches the rampart above them. There were multiple straw bedding areas. There where buckets and a brazier. They opened the door to the first floor of the tower and found beds and stairs leading up. Angeliue went up the stairs to get the others to come down and help search. On the second floor of the tower, she found a couple of straw beds, a weapons rack, and a brazier. There was a door on the northwest side of the room and she went to that door and opened it. She poked her head out and said, “Hey guys, This way!”. Everyone but Cassandra went into the tower. She waited up top to keep an eye on the road for anyone coming from either direction.

They searched out the straw beds, racks, and such and found nothing of interest. They went downstairs and searched the lower tower room as well. They found nothing of interest there as well. There were, at least, real beds and chests in there. Meanwhile, Cal-El went into the other tower. He found crates, supplies, and another weapons rack. Nothing of interest though. They entered the door that led below the gate house bridge. It had a staircase that went up to a trap door that led out to the center of the bridge above. At the other end of the room was a wide staircase going down. Eryn moved to the top of that and heard movement ahead. She turned and motioned everyone to be quiet and to move up. She also heard chopping and rattling along with some whining, growling, and the sound of chains.

They moved forward and found a kitchen area with a couple of goblins, chained and working on preparing meals. They hadn’t seen our group yet. Eryn looked back to find Symon as she knew he could talk to them but he wasn’t there. They all quietly backed out of sight and then Eryn went back up top to find him. They came back down and moved back to the goblins where he began talking to them. He started with, “Peace my brothers!”. The goblins freaked out and pulled on their chains shouting, ”Don’t kill us! Don’t kill us!”. They looked much like Duzzt and the others that they had been running into along the way. They also bore the Wyvern patch. Symon told them that they meant them no harm and that they were safe from them. To the northwest of them was another room full of straw bedding and a brazier.  

The goblins called out, “Don’t hurt us! Where the others at?”. Symon told them that their captors had been defeated. They asked, “They is dead?”. Symon answered, “They is!”. They asked, “You not kill us?”. Symon asked, “Do you intend to harm us?”. They answered, “We hurt nobody, went want to go home!”. Symon asked if they knew where the keys to their chains were. They said, “Big dracon have the keys”. They didn’t remember finding the keys amongst the piles of ash where the draconian had exploded. Eryn picked one of the locks without any trouble. The other lock was damaged and wouldn’t work. She called up Xor to see if he could break it. He broke the lock without any issue. They thanked us for freeing them. Symon asked where they would go now. They said they would go west to the mountains but they had no family, they were all dead. 

Symon asked them about the draconians. He asked how many more they had seen. They only indicated a bunch. They said, “Bunch at big stone house!”.  Symon asked, “Down the hill, in the valley?”. They indicated yes. They said, ”They start coming two three moons ago! Grish-ta-nak say Grizzolo send them.". Symon pointed at the wyvern patch and asked, “You ever see one of those, a real one?”. They answered, “Grish-ta-nak, oh yes, we see too much!”. Symon asked, “Is Grish-ta-nak one of these?”, pointing at the wyvern on the patch. They look at the patch at the wyvern symbol and color and said, “Grish-ta-nak! Nasty!”, while nodding their heads. They said something about Grizzolo when Symon cut them off asking, “Where is Grish-ta-nak?”. They answered, “Stone house!”. Symon followed up with, “Where is Grizzolo?”. They answered, “He come!”. Symon asked, “Have you seen him?”. They shivered and answered, “Yes, scary, big scary!”, waving there arms. They continued, “He come and  eat. Goblin have to feed him. We tired. Hands hurt, back hurt! They mistreat us, they don’t feed us, they whip us and beat us and make us work harder!”. Symon tells them to eat whatever they want. They started eating and offered food to the party. They also started stuffing food into bags to carry. 

Symon asked if they were expecting anyone soon, someone important, like a big dignitary. They said no, “A big army came through they other day!”. Symon asked where they were headed but the goblins didn’t know. They said, “They just came through and went under bridge. The rest of army down below.”. Symon asked if there were as many down below as went through the gate before. They nodded, “Down mountain, in town.”. Symon asked, did most of them leave?”. They answered, “No, only part!”. Eryn asked through Symon, “How will they go to get back to their mountain?”. They answered, “They go south and then west. They not go north!”. They wished them luck. They asked if they could leave now and were told they could go. They scrambled up stairs and out of site. Xor ran up stairs and warned Cassandra that the goblins were coming out and not to shoot them. She saw them come out and scurry off to the south. 

Eryn didn’t see anything else in the kitchen and looked into the other area with the straw beds and there was nothing there as well. They checked the walls around there for secret doors and found none. They went back up through the bridge and to the top of the second tower. They entered the tower and went down the stairs, Eryn followed by Cal-El. Symon moved into the upper tower room. As Eryn started down the stairs, she was hit by a couple of blue glowing darts coming up the stairs. She took a lot of damage. Symon recognized them as magic missile darts and called out, “Magic missiles! Enemies afoot, to arms!”. 

Eryn charged down the stairs quickly to attack whatever she found. She found two draconian and hit one of them. Cal-El followed her down and attacked the one Eryn was fighting. He hit it with one of his weapons and missed with the other. Symon looked down the stairs but couldn't make out what they were fighting. Eryn shouted, “There are two down here!”. Symon indicated that she forgot to tell them, two of what? Xor, followed by Angelique moved down the stairs. Symon shouted for Cassandra to come. The draconian on Eryn drew a weapon and attacked her but missed. The other one cast a stinking cloud engulfing the entire room. Cal-El failed his save and was incapacitated.

Eryn made her saving throw and hit her enemy. As a result, she broke his concentration and stopped him from casting a spell. The other draconian cast a magic missile at Angelique. Cassandra ran into the room and to the top of the stairs. Xor made his saving throw and was able to jump the stair railing and attack the draconian on the other side of the room. He hit it. Angelique made her saving throw and fired at the draconian on Eryn, missing it. Xor had missed on his second attack. Angelique fired again and hit it this time, killing it which resulted in an explosion. Eryn and Cal-El both took damage from it.

The surviving draconian cast a web spell. It filled a good part of the room with webs which made it very hard to move. Eryn failed her save and was held fast. Everyone else made their saves and were still able to move, although very slowly. Cassandra started down the stairs trying to avoid the web but failed that and then also failed the save for the stinking cloud. Symon moved down and tried to pull Cassandra back out of the web and was successful. Xor attacked the surviving draconian again and missed it. Angelique cast produce flame and ignited the web. Everyone in the web took a little bit of damage and the web was removed.

The draconian attacked Xor with a sword but missed. Eryn, freed, rushed over to hit the draconian and missed. Symon moved into the room and saved successfully and fired a magic missile from the wand and hit the draconian. Xor failed his save and became ill. Angelique successfully saved against the stinking cloud, fired but missed. She fired a second shot and missed again. 

Eryn saved against the stinking cloud and hit the draconian. Symon hit it with another magic missile and put the draconian down. Of course, the resulting explosion hurt everyone around him, Xor, Eryn and Symon. They searched around the room and found their booty stash of 3 potions of extra healing, a potion of cold resistance, and a scroll of resist fear. They also found 400 gps. Eryn, Xor, and Angelique were the ones damaged the most in this battle so they took the potions of extra healing. They all drank them and healed back up. Angelique cast healings for Cal-El and then for Eryn. They were both close to being fully healed.

They discussed resting here. Symon initially thought it would be a bad idea to stay here and rest as they didn't know who might show up. Cassandra suggested that they could stand the dead at their post and from a distance, the structure would look like it's well manned and might be left alone. Everyone agreed that sounded like a solid plan and they proceeded to stand guards in position much as they were when they first arrived. Xor and Cassandra remained on top, moving around, while the rest moved inside, out of the elements and rested. Symon took the scroll of remove fear. 

The snow started up overnight as Cassandra and Xor keep the bodies upright and occasionally moved them around a little to make it appear like they were moving around. Just before daybreak, the snow let up. It had managed to dump about 2 inches on them. Everyone warmed up and ate a little before exiting the structure, making their way toward the village at the bottom of the hill. They stayed just off to the west of the road and kept a look ahead to see if they could identify the creatures in the village but weren't able to at such a distance. They were exposed for the first half of the trip so they broke out the winter wolf pelts to keep them warm and to help some of them blend in to the background so they wouldn't be seen. The terrain was a little barren and rocky.

About half way down the hill, Cal-El noticed some stuff in the snow that wasn't natural. He scanned the area for any movement or traps but didn't find anything. He moved off to examine the area and used his sword to dust off part of it. What he found was armor. There were no bodies, only armor that had been busted up and broken. It was draconian armor. At first, the missing bodies made since as the draconians would turn to stone and then collapse or explode leaving nothing behind. But then he found bugbear armor. Still no bodies. The armor bore the emblem of the wyvern but it had been crushed, not shredded. He determined that it wasn't usable as a disguise, but the patches could be used they cut them off and took them. He also determined that whatever happened was fairly recent. He also found a burned spot. He also determined that there were likely 4 or 5 suits of armor. He showed the area to the rest of the party.

Cassandra noticed something that no one else had up to this point. There were big rocks scattered about and especially on the road. "Why would there be big rocks in the road?", she asked out loud. Cal-El and Eryn both started pondering giants or yeti's in the mountains. Examining the mountains for caves and hiding places, they were too far away to make anything out. They pondered some more and searched the area for weapons, finding several broken weapons much like the ones the bugbears and gnolls carried. Cal-El tried to hide our footprints and cover the scene to look as it did when they found it. 

They continue on down the road and finally made it to where the trees started picking up. They split both sides of the road. Xor felt this was not a safe place to be and let Cal-El know. He agreed and they moved to the woods on the left side of the road. The road was clearer and less rocky. While Eryn and Cassandra were moving to the road to cross it, while most of the others were either on the road and crossing or had already crossed, they heard a fierce yell from the west side, from deeper in the woods and the side of the hill. Two ogres were charging at them with big clubs.

They stopped there.

Start the recorder!

Exp = 467 + 47(10%) = 514
Gold = 67