DF Novices, Team-A, Session 65 - Two Quiet Nights
Here is a summary of the game we played on Tuesday.
Party roster:
Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 176 points (PC)
Doran Longbeard, dwarf warrior (knight), 202 points (PC)
Eleanor Bayley, human thief, 233 points (PC)
- Dagne Timar, human priestess of Metallys (cleric), 147 points (NPC Hireling)
Erizax Ofaris, human wizard, 232 points (PC)
Randall, human veteran (knight), 157 points (NPC)
Maximilian "Stout" Grupher III, goblin cleric of Ishtanna, 121 points (PC)
Merrill Tangled Tail, cat-folk martial artist, 139 points (PC)
Campaign Date: 5 and 6 December, Year 645 of the Vycenaean Empire.
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Having driven off the kobolds and escaped* from the Misty Marsh** without loss of any party member, the group camped for the night. It was late and they were tired from their battle and then marching their way out of the mist without pausing to rest. Considering the fatigue level of some of the casters, they made slow going and they were fortunate that they were not attacked again before they escaped the Mist.
The campsite turned out to be not far enough away from the marsh that they weren't disturbed. An arrow flew into the camp at night, while Eleanor was on watch duty. This freaked her out, and she woke up several of the others, but no more arrows came and there was no sign of anyone outside the campsite. The arrow had a note tied to it, with a short message written in four different languages. Erizax was able to translate the High Vycenaean script, and Dagne the Ancient Te-Minoan cuneiform. One of the other two languages were Dwarvish, which Doran recognised but cannot read (most dwarves nowadays use a dialect of the common tongue for everyday use); the last language they did not identify. Dagne translated the cuneiform message as "You will not enter my domain again without permission. Next time you will bring tribute. This is a warning." The rest of the night was uneventful. The general consensus amongst the party members is that the message is from the "dragon", which some of them have seen flying in the area.
The next morning the party set off south, avoiding the Misty Marsh which seemed to stretch for miles on their left. Ben led the group through the hills, hoping to find evidence of the missing magician Turmion. From the top of a high hill, they could see the Old Forest in front of them to the south, the Misty Marsh to the east, and to the southeast between those two areas lay a few miles of wet moorland, dotted with occasional trees but devoid of the supernatural Mist for which the Marsh was named. From out of the mist Ben could see a large river winding southwards into the distance. More closely, the Greywash river could be glimpsed between the trees at the edge of the forest south of the hills.
As they pressed on, Ben found more and more evidence of human foot traffic in various directions, but much of it going north-south. He tracked these southwards, and they wended the party out of the hills, into the forest, and to the northern bank of the Greywash river. It looked to Ben as if this was a spot the bandits had used to cross with boats, but there was no boat on their side. Ben spotted what might have been a boat, camouflaged in the undergrowth on the opposite side of the river.
The party spent some time discussing various methods by which they might cross the river, but none of the group can swim, and the river was too wide, too deep and too fast, for them to be willing to risk it. Eventually they decided to head upstream along the northern bank of the river, in hopes of finding a ford or other crossing point. As they travelled west, the course of the river took them further into the trees, and the group opted to stick close to the bank rather than keep sight of the edge of the woods. As they were going along, Stout had the feeling of being watched, and he cautiously notified the party. Ben who was leading, saw a lone wolf in front, looking at him. He stopped and while the group debated what to do about this, the wolf disappeared into the trees. The party cautiously proceeded but there was no further sight of wolves.
With no sign of a crossing point and the day getting late, Ben looked for a good camping spot in the forest. He set up their tents, and Erizax again cast Mystic Mist to protect the campsite. During the night, Stout heard what he thought was a whispered voice, followed by a scrabbling of rocks. He waited in the mist as silently as he could, but Stout neither heard nor saw anything else. Then he awoke other party members quietly, and they mobilised to investigate, but there was no sight or sound of whatever had spoken. They went back to bed.
In the morning after breaking camp, the party left the cover of Erizax's magical mist, and Ben and Stout looked for signs of anyone passing through. While investigating, Stout reacted to a noise and looked up to see someone approaching with a sword raised! Stout shouted in alarm to warn the others.
We paused the session there, with a potential fight immanent...
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* Narrowly. Very Narrowly. Both front line PCs were close to being dragged off by the kobolds*** and drowned.
** Not to be confused with Mystic Mist, a useful protective spell known by the party wizard.
*** Fantastic Dungeon Grappling at work. It doesn't matter if the members of a horde are individually both smaller and weaker than the average human - if enough of them can grab you at once, then it is very hard to escape without assistance.
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