Session Report: [Olostin's Hold] - Felling The Evil Treant

Rootshaker's friends raced into the evil chapel and were immediately challenged by huge, angry wolverines! The evil Treant Nockmorton was nowhere to be seen!

Sturv, Hagis and Reagan clanked up the corridor, trying to catch up to the Treants and Cortahl the Elven Warmage. Cort peered into the chapel, using the doorframe as cover and let fly with his first spell at one of the dire wolverines.

The wolverines tore into Rootshaker's friends, but soon Rootshaker joined them, dealing punishing strikes to the wolverines with massive wooden limbs.

The rear wall of the chapel contained a bas-relief scultp of a giant tree taking over the world. In front of this was a raised dias with an 8' high altar. Obviously some large-size evil here!

Reagan and Hagis paused so that Reagan could prepare them for battle by laying the magical strength of a bull upon them! This choice would prove pivotal in later parts of the encounter.

As the fight with the wolverines continued, Nockmorton his presence felt by opening a door in the bas relief and heading over to an un-noticed floor trapdoor. Cortahl, who had been focused on the wolverines, moved to attack the evil Treant, but a fireball came streaking from behind the bas-relief to strike Nockmorton, Rootshaker, and the dire wolverines. This fireball also burnt Cort slightly as he rolled to the ground to avoid the worst of it.

Cort changed his plan and fired back at the arcane caster behind the bas relief. Reagan moved into the room, taking up a position to fire into the room behind the bas-relief to also engage the sorceress.

The fireball had weakened some of the good Treants and the wolverines. Soon, there was but three of the good Treants and no wolverines and Cort urged Rootshaker and company to engage Nockmorton before he escaped.

Hagis moved to engage the evil Treant and Sturv moved up to and healed Cort. Reagan, displaying pinpoint marksmanship, scored a critical strike with his crossbow that blew right through the creatures Protection from Normal Missiles spell.

Nockmorton realized that he could not escape the grappling hands of 3 Treants. He took out his huge sickle and began laying about him, slaying one of the Treants immediately.

Reagan dropped his crossbow, ran the length of the room, up the dais, and then chraged down the corridor at the arcane caster, drawing his glowing magic longsword! Hagis, encumbered by his armour choices, lumbered after Reagan. Cort tried varieties of spells against the enemy arcane caster, finding several ineffective.

Meanwhile, Rootshaker lost another Treant friend, but eventually Nockmorton was downed. Sturv went to hammer upon the downed Nockmorton to convince himself that there was no stratagem of evil being employed here.

Reagan's charge took him into a room at the end of a short corridor behind the bas-relief, but a stone door swung closed behind him, plunging the room into darkness except for Reagan's blade's green glow. The green glow revealed a creature of legend - a Naga! His sword lashed out, scoring the creature, who in turn tried to command him and then to use unseen forces to unsuccessfully push him into her deep pit.

Reagan swung with a vengeance, slashing open the creature with a viscious swing, a critical strike! This drove the creature down and out of sight into her pit, allowing Reagan time to fall back to the door, shouting for help and putting his shoulder into trying to open the door.

Hagis, having lumbered down the Corridor, and Cort having nimbly raced past, both heard Reagan calling for aid. Cort and Reagan helped as Hagis bunched his magically-enhanced muscles and, with a ferocious shout and a huge effort, the three managed to push back the locked, wizard-held stone door! This huge effort, only possible because of the Bull's Strength earlier allows Cort and Hagis to join the fight with the ferocious snake!

Is Nockmorton dead?

Can Rootshaker survive another hit?

Is the Naga in her pit fortifying herself for another clash?

Can Reagan, Hagis and Cort handle the Naga, even if Sturv arrives to help?

These questions will be answered in the next installment....

Session Report:: [Olostin's Hold] Bugbears and Body Bags

 

The party stood before the stone door to the bugbear lair. The mage was tired and a bit mentally fuzzy; Being up all night takes a toll.

The warriors Dhallon, Hagis and Reagan put their shoulders into the surprisingly well-crafted stone door, but to no avail despite their best efforts. This led to a discussion and a search for other entrances, while Hagis and Dhallon went back to the building with the tools to acquire some pick-axes.

Just as the two warriors arrived back, distracting everyone, a Bugbear opened the door and stuck its head out. Hagis raced up to jam the door with Dhallon right with him. Jastra and Reagan moved up behind but could do nothing with the Bugbear in the way.

The Bugbear tried to flee, and Jastra chased him down and skewered him, striking deep into the major artery in his leg and finishing him off as he tried to get through a door to a room full of his cohorts.

The fight was on! Three Bugbears hurled Javelins, swung morningstars, and grappled with Hagis, Dhallon and Jastra, with Murklane adding fire support. Reagan watched the party's rear with Sturv, only to find himself being overrun by another four Bugbears!

Sturv and Reagan fought a holding action against the four Bugbears, while Dhallon, Hagis and Jastra finished off those in the sitting room. Hagis joined the fight in the hallway, wrestling with the last of the Bugbears until it was put down by a bolt from Reagan's crossbow.

Exploring further, the party found various small bits of treasure including a nice table with a map of the Calling Horns area upon it as well as some small amounts of loot found on the individual foes.

Pushing on, the party discovered a cloak room with a few odds and ends and another passage, leading to a room with a Hill Giant!

Hagis talked his way past the Hill Giant, convincing him to let Hagis pass through to the secret door. When Dhallon went to follow, the Giant started to wind up for a swing and Jastra leapt upon him, blades flashing and slashing. The Giant howled and the fight was on.

A brutal battle was joined in the small space, with Reagan sinking multiple bolts into the angry Giant, and Hagis, Dhallon, and Jastra all swinging and dodging, trying to avoid the wrath of the lumbering creature. Soon, the giant was bloodied, but he would not go down quietly!

With one big swing, he connected solidly with Dhallon. Moments later, the backswing smashed Dhallon's ribs, cracking obsidian armour plate and knocking the warrior into the far wall of the room, lifeless - slain by the massive blunt trauma!

Hagis, in a fit of rage, hacked down the badly wounded Giant to avenge his comrade.

The party looked to aid their comrade, but quickly realized Dhallon was beyond any aid, slain outright. The party endured a period of shock and grief, then sought out a way to transport Dhallon's body for a twilight burial outside under the auspices of Lathander as soon as this was feasible. A wheelbarrow was fetched to help bear the body.

A somber group contemplated their next step - leave the current locale with the intent of burying Dhallon and returning or press on and finish cleaning out this den of brigands and monsters. The feeling was that Dhallon would have wanted the group to press on, to carry the fight to the foe, and to win a victory in his name.

Pushing on one room further, a huge store of high-quality spoils were found, although little of the collection easily portable - statues, saddles, armoires, carpets, and such like. A suit of magical full plate was discovered, complete with a skeleton. Magical everburning torches were discovered, handy if they don't start fires! And another door to a side passage was discovered...

Down the side passage, two more doors were found, one replete with sound of Bugbears chatting animatedly, the other as silent as death. The Hagis, Jastra and Murlane, healed by Sturv, prepare to take the Bugbears unaware, with Regan in support and Sturv holding the rear.

Jastra spent the moments following the tragedy by beginning working on an epic poem about the life and death of Dhallon Thores. Dhallon had been a good and true companion, if with a somewhat flexible idea of equitable division of spoils. Jastra had enjoyed Dhallon's pragmatic sensibilities and lovely knitted goods as well. Dhallon would be missed....

Session Report: [Olostin's Hold] The Leafy Strangler

 

Jastra's Journal (Supplemental, Hagis recording)

The elf-chick G-string likes to keep a journal, so I'm reading it and helping her out. I like to doodle on the pages, flightless bids are my favorite, but I like drawing trolls too. The elf-chick won't mind; She's unconcious.


We let the tree-chick go. She merged with her evil tree. We didn't get any loot. It was boring. We went to find our Dry Cleaner and the Knitter. They were digging a whole together - I assumed they were pre-planning a grave.

The hole was boring too. We headed back to the little shack and I kicked the door in. We poked around the place and the next thing I know, the elf-chick is busy getting eaten by some sort of plant-thing. We beat it off her, but it messed her up pretty bad - I can see her ribs poking out. The Ranger might be able to do something, the rest of us slept through first-aid training in the militia.

We're trying to figure out what to do now. The elf chick is kinda cute and her singing helps us in fights, so maybe we shouldn't let her croak. I'm watching Dhallon to make sure if there's any move to divy up her stuff, I'm in on it.

Dry Cleaner tells us the new dagger is magical, which is handy. Have to make sure Dhallon doesn't scoff it.

Where's our Cleric? Oh right, they left him behind. I'm surrounded by idjits.

Session Report: [Olostin's Hold] Around The Cavern and into The Grove

 

Jastra's Journal:


We helped Hagis down and Murklane climbed down himself. After getting Hagis down to the cavern floor, we noticed that the root system we climbed down had been rigged with various forms of noisemaking devices. One supposes a form of primitive alarm, but with no one seemingly paying attention to the noise.


The group moved off to investigate the strange grove, gardens, and building. First up was the building, being the most obvious sign of inhabitation. It proved to be an odd structure, with no windows and padlocked doors. Dhallon tried to force the lock and then Hagis and Dhallon tried the door, but to no avail. Lacking a locksmith, the group was stymied.


As we approached some of the gardens around the grove, we were challenged by an elemental of the earth. It obviously wanted some particular voice command to let us pass, but we had no idea what that might be. It quickly moved to engage Dhallon and battle was joined. Jastra's rapier did little to it, due to its lack of vulnerable points. Hagis and Dhallon did some damage, but both took a goodly pounding. Murklane fired some arrows and contributed some damage to the battle. Reagan, using his full barrage of Magic Missile spells which bypassed the things resistance to physical attacks ended up being the key to the destruction of this gaurdian.


Next up was the grove. It seemed to have a number of trees of huge proportion. From the largest hung several who appeared to be mercenaries. Jastra thought to climb up and let them down to examine them more closely, but this proved unwise. The evil tree sucked the life out of her, using a dessicating or enervating effect which drained her of vitality and life-sustaining water. She drank down her entire waterskin in an attempt to rehydrate. Selecting a different approach, using rope, she fetched down the two corpses.


After examining the corpses, the remaining investigtion seemed to be investigating the various odd gardens. Cacti, giant ruddy sunflowers, pines covered with a sick looking moss, a series of trees that looked like dead treants, and some plants which looked like ragweed. Unfortunately, our group is singularly unversed in the lore of plants and animals, so little was to be discovered, other than another corpse, this one with an interesting dagger with a jewelled scabbard and a belt full of money. Myrklane felt it necessary to point out that the money was community property, which seemed a strangely obvious thing to say.


Further investigation revealed a locked crate concealed in one of the gardens, padlocked. It contained a female creature, of perhaps elfin appearance, who seemed reticent to answer questions. Perhaps not the brightest of creatures, the suspicion was she was a wood spirit. She herself confirmed this and indicated the bugbears had locked her in this crate. This, however, was not the whole story as there is no way that bugbears turned everyone in Olostin's Hold into shrubberies and trees. Jastra pressed her further and discovered that she was, in fact, the victim of an Evil Treant. Treants are powerful creatures, so perhaps its magics could explain some of the corruption we are seeing.


The thing most perplexing is what could corrupt such a goodly forest-warden? Time? Human predation upon woodlands? Bitterness at not having an ent-wife? Perhaps our investigation would reveal the cause, assuming we can locate the Evil Treant.

We elected to free the forest-spirit, so that she could attempt to cleanse the grove of its evil and perhaps so she could provide us with further information if we must fight Bugbears and Treants.


We are low in magic, quite a few of us are injured. Something tells me recharging our magical batteries and perhaps retreating to our cleric to have him heal us may be the order of the day, before meeting a powerful creature like a Treant or a tribe of Bugbears....


 

Session Report: [Olostin's Hold] Villagers Take Root at Calling Horn

Jastra's Journal:

We repaired the wagons after the ambush by the brigands. They were savvy enough to build swinging log traps to disable our wagons but not smart enough to recognize we weren't people to be trifled with. One nasty fight later, the road between Olostin's Hold and Calling Horn was safer.

Then, with newly repaired wagons, we proceeded to Calling Horn. Of course, even the most jaded among us was a bit surprised to find everyone in the village turned into a tree or a shrubbery... even inside buildings.

We found a couple of actual bodies in the Blacksmith's place and happened upon a heavily armoured Troll who seemed game for a go round. He was a tough foe, but we've dealt with Trolls before. Our heaviest fighters, Dhallon and Hagis, kept it busy while the real damage was done by Murklane the Troll Hunter, Reagan of the Sorching Ray, and your fine scribe, singing a ballad about hunting trolls on the moors as my most excellent keen magic rapier slashed off random facial features.

Eventually we put the foul beast down, though it did inflict some horrible wounds on Murklane and I. Nothing the power of Lathander, Morninglord and enemy of evil, couldn't resolve, by way of his servant Sturv Amblecrown.

The interrogation of the troll was short. They're not the brightest creatures. Sturv seemed to think we had to let the troll go. Murklane, a follower of Gwareon Windstorm, really had a serious problem with letting the troll go, but Sturv was adamant. He seemed to think that he was honour bound to let the creature go if it answered our questions.

That moment of tension was passed as Murklane reluctantly relented, threatening the troll with a slow and fiery death if he was ever see around human lands again. This outcome satisfied Sturv, but left Murklane rather put out.

We continued our search of the village, in the hopes of locating a clue to the oddity of a village full of greenery instead of people. At one house, Dhallon found a Dog. As is their wont, the Dog seemed to want to lead us to someone after we fed and watered it and freed it. Knowing Dogs know better than most, we elected to follow the Dog.

Off down to the woods, leaving Hendric and Sturv behind with the merchants, the remainder of our party travelled following the Dog's nose. Hagis, Dhallon, Murklane, myself and Reagan figured we could handle whatever the Dog was headed towards.

In the base of a tree, we discovered a strange passage to the underworld. We entered into a large underground cavern, complete with its own grove and at least one building. Now, despite being well travelled and educated, I had never heard of such a thing. Reagan too professed ignorance of any similar thing. A true wonder, but one tinged with the feel of the sinister.

We began to climb down, with Dhallon and I climbing down first to secure a safe zone so they others less talented at climbing could let themselves down. The building we could see seemed blocky and lacking in windows, which was odd and hinted at the need for a sturdy, defensible structure or at least at the mindset of the builders. The grove would, for the moment, remain a mystery.