DF Soaring Phoenix, Session 109 - Slaying the Manticore(s)

    Last session we ended with the party were standing on a hilltop, watching the manticore fly away... Both the barbarian players were absent this session, so Ben and Violetta guarded the rear, and did not feature in the main fight.

Session Date:    Tuesday 21 January 2025

Party roster:

Erizax Ofaris, human wizard, 343 points (PC) 
Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 255 points (PC) 
Merrill Tangled Tail, cat-folk monk (martial artist), 314 points (PC) 
- Dagne Timar, human priestess of Metallys (cleric), 221 points (NPC Ally) 
Maximilian "Stout" Grupher III, goblin cleric of Ishtanna, 231 points (PC) 
Violetta, human warrior (barbarian), 238 points (PC) 
Hartwin Bertelot, human monster-hunter (knight), 169 points (PC) 
Randall, human veteran (knight), 215 points (NPC Ally) 
Lannet, halfling adventurer (thief), unknown points (NPC) 
Fendrin, human farmer, unknown points (NPC)

Campaign Date:    26 to 27 February, Year 647 of the Vycenaean Empire. 

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-- With the need for Merrill to spend several hours to meditate, the party decided not to pursue the manticore immediately, lest they not catch it in time.

-- The group returned to the Strider Barrens and made camp there. While the monk was meditating, some of the others spent the time foraging as best they could on the barren plain.

-- The choice to return to the Barrens was probably the safe one. They had no further encounters that day, and the night was also quiet.

-- The next day (the fourth day of their hunt) the party returned to the hills. They made good progress and after a few hours Ben and Violetta identified that they were approaching the cave of the manticore.

-- As they get closer to the lair, the manticore flew overhead and circled out of view. They proceeded carefully toward the hill-face they would need to climb to ascend up to the lair. Merrill was in the lead, and as the manticore looped back for an attack, Merrill ducked out of the way just in time.

-- When the manticore loops back around for the second attack, Hartwin was the target this time, and he was waiting for the attack.

-- Hartwin cleaved through one of the manticore's wing as it came in for the attack, sending it crashing to the ground. At the same time Erizax, who had a fireball charged, threw it into the flank of the crashing manticore. The beast was down, and the characters quickly finished it off. Fendrin ran forward and hacked at the body.

-- On the ledge above, came the cry of a baby manticore, looking down at the body of its parent. Erizax conjured another fireball. Merrill roared up at the beast, and it backed away from ledge and out of view.

-- The party quickly decided that the baby manticore was also a monster and needed to be killed. Merrill resolved to do the dead himself, and was the first up the wall. Fendrin, Hartwin, and Stout struggled to clamber up after him.

-- Once up top, Merrill charged at the manticore, only to discover that there were two babies, when the second tried to ambush him. He defended himself from their lethal attacks as he injured the manticore cubs severely, and soon put one of them down.

-- While Merrill why trying to deal with the second baby manticore, the other parent returned, swooping in on Merrill and just missing as he ducked away. The manticore flew past.

-- As Merrill concentrated on the remaining manticore cub, the parent was turning around, and it soon flew back and slammed into him with a raking claw from behind. Merrill somehow retained his footing, but he was now grappled from behind by a stronger creature, and at serious disadvantage.

-- Hartwin got to the fight just in time to see Merrill lose consciousness while being savaged by a very angry Manticore, and he engaged both the Manticore and the heavily injured baby with his duelling halberd.

-- The Manticore decided that Hartwin was the greater threat, and dropping the unconscious Merrill, it unceremoniously trampled his body in its rush to attack Hartwin. 

-- Hartwin did an all out attack to finish the fight, but unfortunately the Manticores did not go down. Then the adult Manticore in turn all out attacked. Hartwin went from being perfectly fine to negative hit points and grappled in a single turn. 

-- Hartwin somehow managed to parry multiple attacks one-handed with his bare arm, while holding onto his halberd in his other hand. Meanwhile the big and little manticores were trying to bite, claw, and skewer him with their tails.

-- Hartwin passed both his death checks and his poison resistance rolls, and remained standing under the onslaught. Fendrin then charged in and swung his sword ineffectively at the manticore.

-- Erizax finally arrived, having slowly levitated himself up using Apportation, and he threw a powerful Fireball at the manticore, and the fight was over. Fendrin continued to hack at the bodies of the manticores for several moments.

-- Stout then finally arrived, and used all his healing power (with some extra energy from Erizax) to make sure that neither Merrill or Hartwin would die immediately (though they both remained on negative HP). 

-- Through the open mouth of the nearby cave entrance, the party could see that the floor inside was covered in coins!

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Epilogue notes after the session (post game chat in the days since):

-- The remaining party members would eventually make it up the hill, including Dagne, who would spend all her energy to finish what Stout had started, restoring both Merrill and Hartwin to full health.

-- Fendrin after hacking at the manticores that killed his family, would be overcome. When he recovered himself, he spoke in awe to Hartwin of how he saw the warrior take the worst the monster had to offer and he didn't fall. Fendrin pledges to follow 'Sir' Hartwin, if Hartwin will show him how.

-- Erizax, Lannet, and Hartwin would sort through the coins* and other loot, looking for the most valuable stuff. They decided that if they couldn't carry it all, then they might bury it and return later.

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* Mostly copper, it would turn out, but still coins. And thousands of them! They found $5000+ in non-copper coinage, plus some gems, a locked strongbox containing some unlabelled potions and a pair of very nice small knives, a robe of some unusual material; and there are still uncounted thousands of copper pieces on the floor of the cave.