DF Soaring Phoenix, Sessions 126 through 141 - A Baron, a Dragon, and a Giant Problem

    Well, another long break since I last posted. Sorry about that, but external events disrupted my desire to post. I've been in hospital for surgery, which interrupted our adventures. Then after my return, the group lost one of the PCs after an encounter with a large dragon (the dragon was more a symptom than the cause of the departure). Then the party arrived at the baron's castle and picked up a new quest. In that time we've managed sixteen sessions. That in itself is its own problem, as it has taken me some time to try and summarise the meaningful points of the last 5 months...

    Things have mostly settled down again now, hopefully. Below is a very broad overview of the past 16 sessions.

Session Dates:    Tuesday 22 July 2025 through to Tuesday 25 November 2025

Party roster:

Erizax Ofaris, human wizard, 395 points (PC) 
Ben, half-ogre barbarian-scout, 319 points (PC) 
Merrill Tangled Tail, cat-folk monk (martial artist), 357 points (PC) 
- Dagne Timar, human priestess of Metallys (cleric), 267 points (NPC Ally) 
Maximilian "Stout" Grupher III, goblin cleric of Ishtanna, 308 points (PC) 
Violetta, human warrior (barbarian), 347 points (PC) 
Hartwin Bertelot, human monster-hunter (knight), 274 points (PC) 
Randall, human veteran (knight), 238 points (NPC Ally) 

Campaign Dates:    4 July to 16 July, Year 647 of the Vycenaean Empire. 

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-- After a downtime period of 3+ months since the last adventure, the party members reconvened in the town of Bridgegate.

-- The PCs had spent most of the downtime* period training their abilities. While much of this was done around Bridgegate, there were some notable exceptions. Stout initially remained in the village of Fairhill, where there is a temple to his goddess, Ishtanna. Merrill returned to Master Silis in the hills north of Cribble. Ben visited the retired ranger Kuipos with a gift of a strider which he had hunted on the plains, and returned to the group as a barbarian-scout. Erizax travelled to the village of Mere to visit the wizard Turmion, and found that he was not there.

-- The group had previously committed to visiting Baron Mylark** in the hills east of Bridgegate. Unfortunately they didn't know the exact location of his castle, so they headed first to Mere.

-- They arrived at the village of Mere on the second day of their journey, where they learned that the reclusive wizard Turmion was still absent**. The village didn't seem too panicked yet, as the wizard had gone off unannounced more than once previously. However it seemed that none of the villagers had seem him in some weeks.

-- Erizax spoke privately with Squire Marlen, the official representative of the Duke of Bridgegate in Mere, and asked him again about Baron Mylark. The squire told Erizax pretty much the same advice: if the party is usefult to the baron, then Mylark will overlook a little failure of etiquette; the Lady Mylark however is more sensitive to the perquisites of her station.

-- On the third day, the party were exploring the hills north of Mere when they sighted what looked to be a standing stone atop a high hill, to the northeast of their position. It was ahead of them but not on the trail they were following to the baron's castle. The party discussed whether to head off to explore this location, or continue along their route. Hartwin wanted to use the Wings of Flying which the party had taken as loot from a bandit leader (back in session 78, before Hartwin met the group); the others agreed.

-- Hartwin used the Wings of Flying to ascend upwards above the hills, so that he would be able to approach the high hill from above with a clear view of anything atop it. Unfortunately for Hartwin, this put him in clear view not only to anyone looking up, but also other flying creatures. Hartwin didn't spot the large green dragon until it was already hovering above the hill that he was heading towards, and looking at him. There was no way to hide.

-- What transpired was a brief moment of each staring at the other, before the dragon flew towards Hartwin; at which point Hartwin headed back towards his companions. He never made it, as the dragon was much faster in the air than his own magical wings. Hartwin turned to fight the dragon, and a brief altercation ensued. The result of which was the dragon nullifying Hartwin's ability to fly with Dispel Magic, then grabbing his plummeting form, disarming him of weapon and magical cloak, before dropping him from a painful but survivable height of 10 yards. The dragon then breathed fire, scorching the ground yards from Hartwin's body before it turned and flew off.

-- The rest of the party had seen the midair confrontation but they were some distance away, and it took them a while to find where Hartwin had been dropped. They healed Hartwin, but the damage had been done. Hartwin blamed the entire confrontation on the dragon, and refused to learn anything from the encounter***. Hartwin parted ways with the Soaring Phoenix, and returned to Bridgegate. They had lost not only a PC, but also a rare magical item in the process.

-- After that setback, and with the standing stone still unexplored, the party continued on their journey to find the baron's castle.

-- The arrived at the castle on the fourth day, announced themselves, and were invited by Baron Mylark to stay for lunch. In attendance was the Lady Mylark, whose appearance was entirely human except for perhaps a slight tinge of green to her complexion, which attracted far too much curiosity from the PCs. Also in attendance were some of the baron's knights and soldiers, whom Mylark did not introduce. One of those was a particularly large knight who some PCs have assumed is the baron's son. 

-- During the meeting they learned from the baron that he has a problem with giants attacking a quarry a few miles away, and considering the party's prior experience dealing with giants, he wants them to deal with this problem also. Merrill tried his best to be diplomatic with the baron, with a reasonable degree of success. However some of the other party members not used to minding their manners around nobility managed to cause offence. They left the meeting with Merrill having given his word that the party would tackle the problem, but with Mylark's attitude somewhat lukewarm toward the group, and with the PCs knowing very little about the problem they were about to face.

-- On their way to the quarry they met a small number of the baron's men, led by Sergeant Vidir whom they had met previously in Fairhill. Vidir took them to a campsite a few miles from the quarry. The camp was split, with human workers and soldiers on one side, and goblin workers on the other side. The goblins were in chains are were being watched over by orcs.

-- At the camp they learned from the humans that the giants are shrouded by mist or fog, which seems to surround them. In addition the giants also have minions consisting of ghouls and large dogs. Victims are either killed or taken (and presumed killed). The workers seem rightly terrified.

-- The next day they travelled to the quarry itself, where they looked around for clues, found evidence of tracks, and briefly met Constable Wilton. They followed the tracks and camped in the hills not far from the quarry.

-- That night they were attacked by a pack of about a dozen unusual large dogs. The presence of the Mystic Mist which Erizax conjured to protect their campsite was a significant benefit to the party, hampering both the movement and the coordination of the dogs. The group defeated the dogs with only very minor injuries sustained.

-- The fact that the dogs attacked through the Mystic Mist was unusual. Wild animals would not normally enter the Mist at all. Add to that the fact that the dogs fought to the end, rather than fleeing when injured, was another strange occurrence.

-- The sixth day was uneventful, but they heard howling in the night.

-- On the seventh day the party took time out from travelling to forage for more supplies before they continued eastwards. At the edge of the hills the party was attacked by another pack of large dogs. They formed a semi circle on a low hillock, but they were outnumbered and overrun by the dogs. Dagne was literally dogpiled**** and went down, and her leg was chewed through by of the dogs until it was severed.

-- After the fight the party did not have long to regroup before they saw humanoids approaching from the east, with mist behind them. They decided to drop much of their camping gear, pick up the injured Dagne and the exhausted Stout, and flee back in to the hills.

-- As they fled they spotted behind them at one point a mounted rider in the distance. Whether this was someone with the giants, or someone else entirely, they did not know and did not want to risk finding out.

-- Ben was able to find a perfect cave to spend the night in, which was very fortunate considering they had left their tents behind.

-- The eighth day the party rested, and foraged in the area around the cave for more food. Stout cast a Regeneration spell upon Dagne to restore her severed leg; this will take a month to grow back.

-- On the ninth day the group split, with Stout and Merrill staying with the injured Dagne, while Erizax, Ben, Violetta, and Randall returned to the edge of the hills where they had fought the dogs, and collected their abandoned equipment. The only thing not recoverable was Dagne's pack, which had been ripped open, and the food taken.

-- The fallen dogs from that fight were missing, as if they had been dragged away afterwards. There was also evidence of fresh tracks of new dogs, in addition to humanoid footprints. Violetta also found the fresh mark of a large cloven-hoofed animal at the scene.

-- On day ten, the party left the safety of their cave and returned slowly towards the baron's castle. They encountered an ambush of orcs on the way, which they sprung. Although the orcs outnumbered the party about 2-to-1 those odds were insufficient to be a serious threat, and the orcs were soon routed.

-- The shields of the orcs carried different symbols/heraldry, only one of which the PCs remembered encountering before (in Eralion's Keep to the west). The significance of this the party could only speculate.

-- On the eleventh day the group arrived back at Castle Kairg. Their return seemed to be expected by Baron Mylark; his soldiers told the party to go on up to the castle. 

-- This meeting with the baron was initially more successful than the last. Mylark indicated that he had not had much faith that they would actually go through with their commitment to address the giant problem after their first visit. Yet now they had returned alive but injured, and apparently still intending to go back out again. Baron Mylark agreed that Dagne would be his guest while she recovered, and the PCs headed back out to the quarry.

-- After the meeting the PCs argued amongst themselves. There was a divided opinion on whether they needed to rest a few days (they were fatigued after several rough nights in the wilderness) or they had to head back out the next morning as Merrill had told the baron that they would. Ultimately the decision to rest won out, but Merrill was annoyed and refused to deliver such a message; the party had to return to the castle without him and give the baron the bad news.

-- Upon hearing the bad news Baron Mylark said that he would send his own men to deal with the matter, telling Sir Algyn (the huge knight who had been present during their first meeting with the baron) to go in the morning and to take Sir Costen with him.

-- The next morning (day 12) the party split, with Merrill and Stout intending to join the knights after breakfast, but finding out that they had already left. Stout and Merrill set off in pursuit. The rest of the party remained resting in the village inn.

-- Merrill and Stout reached the quarry campsite and spoke with Sir Costen and Sir Algyn. The pair decided to head off to the quarry by themselves, but this time they got lost and found themselves at the edge of the hills overlooking the Misty Marsh.

-- On day 13, the pair made it back to the quarry campsite, after Stout prayed to his goddess and received inspiration as to the correct way to go. While Merrill meditated, Stout spoke with Sir Costen and learned that the knights had been to the quarry in their absence, and fought off another pack of dogs. Stout healed a number of the soldiers who had been injured, and earned a bit of acknowledgement and respect as a result.

-- The knights were intending to return to the quarry the next day, without the human workers or goblins, The two PCs decided that Merrill would go with them, while Stout remained behind to  speak with the goblins (who Sir Costen had told Stout were becoming very reluctant workers under the circumstances); Stout would also conserve his strength in order to be able to heal any injured soldiers returning to the campsite.

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* In order for PCs to learn new abilities (or for concentrated improvement of existing abilities), I require training which costs the characters both time and money. Therefore "levelling up" becomes a strategic decision for the players, rather than an automatic given without consequences.

** I had thought that Erizax might insist on searching for the missing wizard, however he did not, and the party continued with the previously agreed arrangement to visit the Baron.

*** During the week following the session, I tried to communicate with the player. Ultimately my attempts to explain that there were alternatives to fighting failed (not least when facing a random encounter beyond your ability to defeat single-handedly), and the player decided to leave the group before the next session. Therefore at the start of the next session, the PC would also depart following disagreement with his fellows (sometimes art imitates life).

**** Fantastic Dungeon Grappling again shows its worth here, with effects like Dogpiling and converting Control Points into extra damage.