DF Soaring Phoenix, Session 104 - Knock knock! Ooze there?

    This session was last Tuesday. There have been more roster changes. Let me explain. 

    We recently lost the player of Eleanor indefinitely, after a period of intermittent attendance. This was a massive blow, as both player and character had been with the campaign from the very beginning, and in many ways she was the leader of the group (at first, de facto; later officially). Hopefully she may be back in future, but RL being what it is, I am not banking on it. The PC remained in the party in a support capacity for as long as was narratively necessary, before she could bow out gracefully. Now the time has come to say goodbye. We may see her again as an NPC possibly; we shall see. 

    To bolster the ranks, a new player was recruited, and Hartwin was found and rescued as a prisoner of the orcs in the ruined keep. Rescued, but not equipped. Hartwin had his torn clothes, but nothing more. Presumably the orcs stashed his stuff somewhere, but the party didn't fully search the keep last time, instead returning to Fairhill as soon as possible - to return the stolen relic and in so doing, clear their names... Hartwin would still like his halberd back!

    In addition to the above, a previous player has re-joined the group, if only temporarily. Thus has Stout, the dwarf-Goblin cleric of the human goddess of love and war, reappeared in Fairhill, somewhat more capable than when we last saw him...

Session Date:    Tuesday 3 December 2024

Party roster:

Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 233 points (PC)
Erizax Ofaris, human wizard, 292 points (PC)
Merrill Tangled Tail, cat-folk monk (martial artist), 234 points (PC)
Violetta, human warrior (barbarian), 161 points (PC)
Randall, human veteran (knight), 173 points (NPC Ally) 
Dagne Timar, human priestess of Metallys (cleric), 147 points (NPC) 
Hartwin Bertelot, human monster-hunter (knight), 128 points (PC) 
Maximilian "Stout" Grupher III, goblin cleric of Ishtanna, 199 points (PC)

Campaign Date:    15 February, Year 647 of the Vycenaean Empire. 

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-- Following the group's successful return to Fairhill with the holy Crucible last session, they spent a couple full days to rest and enjoy the free hospitality of the grateful village. They needed that time to recover from the physical strain of their ordeal. 

-- The players elected not to spend a full week on R&R (which by my house rules is required as the baseline to "level up"; actual training time on top of that, notwithstanding). They wanted to return to the ruined keep without further delay, in order to check for any remaining opposition and/or the return of the half-orc cleric, and to recover Hartwin's things (and not at all to search for any putative actual loot which the wizardly former occupant of said keep was expected to possess). 

-- Eleanor informed her companions that she would not be going with them back to the keep, and reiterated that she was seeking to return to Bridgegate as soon as possible. She may wait a day or two if the party is returning to Bridgegate soon, but she won't wait long. If the group is delayed then Eleanor said that she will see them all back in Bridgegate. 

-- Dagne (former hireling of Eleanor, turned NPC Ally) said that she will return to the keep with the party, as she felt that needs to be finished. Then after that, Dagne will see. 

-- While resting in the Drunken Cockatrice inn, the party heard that the man always drinking alone in the corner was Fendrin, a farmer who had lost his family to a manticore. (It would turn out that Stout also heard a similar story back in Bridgegate, about a manticore eating a farmer's family in Fairhill.)

Hartwin looked for a replacement halberd, but the village did not have one for sale. The blacksmith said that he could possibly make one, but of course Hartwin needed it immediately and did not want to wait. In the end Hartwin saved his money for now, and just bought himself a long staff as a cheaper short term weapon.

-- In conversation with the blacksmith, Hartwin also learned that the man's daughter had been missing for over a week, and the smith was quite worried. His daughter Arialle had seemingly run off with a group of adventurers, against her father's wishes. "Rogues, scoundrels" the blacksmith called them. He offered to make Hartwin a suit of armour, should he find Arialle and bring her back safely.

-- On the third morning in Fairhill, everyone felt fully recovered, and they prepared to set off back to the ruined castle. While talking in the village square, they were encountered by their absent companion "Stout" whom they had not seen in a year, and who had just returned to Fairhill. Stout decided to join the others in their return to the castle.

-- The journey back to the ruined keep took a few hours, but was uneventful. Ben checked the secret trail which the orcs had used last time, but it did not seem that anyone had been that way since the party was last there.

-- Upon returning to the corner tower with the heavy door installed in its base, they found it still unlocked (Ben had broken the padlock last time). Merrill rushed in, closely followed by Hartwin and Violetta. Seemingly the huge slime they had previously avoided was now even bigger and/or had inched closer to the door; the three of them were all standing foot-deep in a huge slime before they even realised what had happened. 

-- Merrill and Hartwin rushed out of the tower immediately, but it was too late. Their lack of robust footwear meant that the corrosive slime seeped through their shoes almost instantly, and got straight to work on their feet. Violetta was stunned for a couple seconds, before she too exited the tower. Her heavy leather boots were tougher, but Violetta could not get them off fast enough before the slime seeped through, and she too was injured by the fast working acid. 

-- Stout healed each of the 3 party members in turn, showing that he was now a much more competent cleric than when his companions had seen him last. 

-- The party decided to find another way into the castle. They walked along the wall and past the gatehouse, where they saw the big doors had long ago been smashed. However there were two rusted portcullises which were down at either end of the gatehouse tunnel, blocking the way. 

-- Through the gatehouse portcullises, the party could see the rubble of collapsed buildings, and the remains of the campfire/watchfire of the orcs in the courtyard from last time, but no obvious signs of new activity.

-- The group continued along the base of the curtain wall, looking for an alternate way in. Around the next circular corner tower, they could see where the collapsed stone wall had been replaced with an earthwork topped with a wooden palisade, with wooden stakes sticking out from the earthen wall as an additional defence. Ben led his companions onward, looking for where he had seen the ladder previously, however this was now missing. 

-- Leaving his spear with his companions so that he had both hands free to climb, Merrill clambered up the steep earthwork slope between the stakes, until he was standing on a ledge about 1 foot deep with the wooden palisade in front of him. Merrill jumped up, grabbing the top of the palisade and hauled himself up. 

-- Looking over the other side of the wall, Merrill could see that the inside of the palisade was a little higher and the width of the ledge a little deeper, before the bank of the earthworks sloped down into the courtyard. Lying in the dirt at the base of the slope, Merrill could see a long ladder.

-- Merrill went over the palisade and scrambled down the bank on the other side. As he was picking up the ladder, Merrill looked up to see three armed figures across the courtyard, now starting in his direction. He grabbed one end of the ladder, and clambered up the bank, pulling the ladder behind him. Standing on the defensive ledge, Merrill hauled the long ladder over the wooden parapet, and dropped it down the other side, as the castle defenders reached the bottom of the bank beneath him.

-- As the three figures got closer, Merrill realised that what had once been orc warriors were now zombies, carrying the same two-handed orcish cleavers which they had wielded in life.

-- Merrill found himself unarmed, in a frenetic brawl against three opponents, while his companions hurriedly lined up to ascend the ladder on the outside. Thankfully it turned out the zombies were easily stunned by Merrill's martial roar (Kiai), and it often took them several seconds to recover once stunned. Each kiai cost Merrill 1 FP, but was well worthwhile to reduce the number of opponents he had to face at once. In between the Kiai roars, Merrill would position himself to parry with All out Defence, then leverage that (invariably) successful parry into a throw to put the zombie on the ground, taking them out of the fight for a couple seconds while they got back up.

-- This went on for several turns, with Merrill keeping the 3 zombies ineffectual, until Ben could get over the palisade and draw the attention of one of the zombies. 

-- Ben was followed over the wall by Hartwin, and Erizax levitated himself up the outside with Apportation, and threw a fireball into the back of a zombie which was facing Ben. Between fireball and axe blows from Ben, the zombie did not stand a chance. Once his companions had joined in, Merrill was able to switch up his attacks and use clawed kicks to rake at the zombies.

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With the fight almost decided, we ended the session there. We had gone an hour past our allotted session time...