Oglesby In The Bag Icar And A Medusa (Session 65)

Summary

The detail is short so I made no summary.

Detail

The game master warned the group that this module was designed with moments where the party was meant to lose, forcing them to face overwhelming odds to set up the next phase of their adventure. The party had come closer to defeat than ever before, and the stakes were high. As they navigated the Stockades, they encountered an ogre mage named Grod'zar, whose powers were far beyond the ordinary. Grod'zar cast a super-powered cone of cold, dealing 33 points of damage, halved to 16 for those who made their saving throws versus spells. The hallway provided some cover, acting as a shield due to the door’s positioning, but the damage was devastating. Brandy and Audra made their saves, taking only 16 points of damage, but Pyreece failed hers, succumbing to the cold and falling unconscious. Oglesby was hit hardest, taking the full 33 points and dying instantly, his body frozen and lifeless.

Grod'zar, seeing the party’s weakened state, demanded their surrender, threatening to unleash another spell. Audra, however, was charmed by Grod’zar magic, viewing him as a friend and refusing to let her companions harm him. Despite this, Brandy and then Kipp charged forward, engaging Grod’zar in combat. They managed to inflict some serious damage. Audra, torn by her enchantment, ran to intercept Kipp, grabbing him by the shoulder and throwing him back to protect Grod’zar . Using her immense strength, along with a lucky dice roll, she pinned Kipp to the ground in a wrestling hold, preventing him from attacking. Meanwhile, Brandy, undeterred, struck Grod'zar with one final powerful blow, ending him. The ogre mage collapsed to the ground.

After his fall, Audra moved quickly administering a goodberry to both Oglesby and Pyreece. Oglesby showed no sign of recovery. He was too far gone. Pyreece, on the other hand, stabilized and was able to stand again. Elenor, invisible, slipped away to explore a nearby room, hoping to find resources to aid the party. She discovered a chest. Avoiding the cloud trap, she found it contained a chain shirt, potions, a smaller locked box with a potion, and another box with three scrolls. She retrieved the items and returned to the group, now visible, to share her findings. The potions included three of extra healing, and the scrolls, after Elenor used her read magic spell, were identified as wizard spells: one for stone to flesh, Wizard Eye and Find familiar.

Pyreece remembered she had a scroll of heal. Audra confronted Brandy and Kipp, anguished over the death of her friend the ogre mage, believing they could have saved everyone without bloodshed. Kipp, ignoring the emotional tension, searched Grod’zar ’s body. The party, battered and with Oglesby dead, decided to retreat. They placed Oglesby’s body in a bag of holding, hoping to resurrect him later, and took his plus-one sword for Kipp to use for a while. Elenor used her last dose of extra healing on Brandy, and the group decided to heal Kipp fully with a scroll of heal, which restored all hit points, diseases, and blindness. Pyreece, at one hit point, carried the remaining potions of extra healing, staying back to avoid combat, trying not to waste them.

The party retraced their steps through the Stockades, navigating traps and jumping over a pit they had previously disarmed. As they were exiting the building, Kipp spotted movement near a fountain in the courtyard, where goblins and bugbears were cleaning up dead bodies. Brandy, using her bow, took out a goblin leader with a single shot, sparking a skirmish. The party fought fiercely, with Audra, still mourning Grod’zar , reluctantly joining the battle. They dispatched the goblins and bugbears, with Elenor’s magic missiles and Pyreece’s sling. The group then slogged through thick mud to escape the Stockades and finally reaching a hillside by late afternoon.

Finding a recessed area, almost like a cave, Elenor cast Leomund’s Tiny Hut, creating a safe haven for the party to rest. They distributed healing, bringing Brandy to 27 hit points, Pyreece to 22, and Kipp to nearly full health. Audra, still at 30 out of 71 hit points, remained weakened. During the rest, they examined their loot: a long sword plus one, a potion of hill giant control, and a potion of fire giant strength. They put the sword in the bag of holding as a backup weapon.

At 3 a.m., under cover of darkness, the party returned to the Stockades, finding the drawbridge down and the area quiet. The goblin corpses were still there, indicating no one had cleaned the area. Moving cautiously, they re-entered the main building, jumping over the pit and encountered more bugbears in the room with the werebear statue. As the battle began, a new threat emerged: a figure in black plate mail, wielding a longsword, later identified as Icar. The party engaged in a brutal fight, with Icar dealing significant damage to Kipp. There were seven bugbears, three of which blocked the door so that Kipp was cutoff from the rest of the party. Audra, overcoming her emotional turmoil, beheaded a bugbear, while Brandy and Elenor whittled down the enemies. Once in the room, Pyreece cast a hold person spell but it failed to work. The party eventually felled Icar and his posse, finding a ring and his black plate mail, which they kept for later identification.

Continuing their exploration, they returned to the room where the slaves were. They were gone. They continued searching the rooms they'd not been in yet. They found a storeroom with garrison supplies, empty barracks, and a room with a cask of wine and a chest containing bracers, gold pieces, a gold ring, a dagger, and a cryptic note about “doors of blood” and an “oasis”. They couldn't tell exactly what it said as the note was missing pieces. Another room held a carved chest with potions, gold, an uncut ruby, sapphires, and a clerical scroll of atonement. Finally, they discovered a locked door with a padlock, which Brandy broke open, revealing a room with a shield, cloak, shirt, mandolin, and animal skulls on the wall.

As they opened the final door, Audra spotted a medusa, whose gaze could turn them to stone. Audra managed to survive the initial gaze. She warned the rest of them. Kipp did not turn away from the creature, attacking and dealing 23 points of damage. Audra got a critical hit in, even without looking up at the monster. Brandy followed with a critical hit bow shot, striking it for 14 points. Audra carefully pushed the creature's body aside, avoiding her gaze. She opened the chest that the monster was guarding. Fortunately, it was not trapped, revealing 2,000 gold pieces, 10 silver and black opal bracelets, a brass bracers, a potion, clerical scrolls, and a ring.

Examining the scrolls, Pyreece determined what they were. There were six spells. They included Wind Walk, Feign Death, Purify Food and Drink, Resurrection, Cure Light Wounds, Cure serious wounds.

It was then that the session ended.

Please start the recorder!

Exp: 1567 + 157 = 1724