Wandered Roads 40

Wandered Roads of Varisia
Session 40
May 30, 2015

Campaign Timeline

Stuck Between a Lake and a Hard Place

Starday 6th Neth

Back to the Boats

The Heroes of Sandpoint loaded themselves and their gear back into the small boats and made their way further along the underground waterway. Daellin escorted the three boats while flying along nearby. The group passed from the large lake area to a narrower tunnel like passage. There were many ledges and niches along the walls and each one of them contained a very dead and manacled body. It was hard to tell what or who they had once been but all were in varying stages of decay, some appearing quite recent.

Oh Bats!

Daellin flew up toward the top of the tunnel to get a closer look and disturbed two large ghoul bats that fluttered down and swooped over the heads of the boaters. Kallin and Calina both took exception to these undead abominations and attacked, one with Divine magic and the other with her bow. The ghoul bats were seen no more.

Lake of Longing

The boats then moved out into another large lake type area. Clumps of luminous lichen clung to the walls here and there giving the enormous room a eerie glow. The boats had to stay near the right side cavern wall so they could continue polling along. Daellin flew out in wider and wider arcs, watching for anything dangerous. On his scouting mission, he did spy two large creatures cresting then submerged in the dark water of the lake. Giant serpents of some type, he thought. As he was preparing to head back and warn his companions, a strange urge took hold of him and he knew he had to get to the beach at the far end of the lake immediately so he took off flying as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, back on the boats, several of the boaters were affected by a similar compulsion, though the two Half-Orcs took it a bit farther and stripped down naked before diving into the cold cave water. Samad also felt the need to dive into the water and began swimming toward the north shore. Acting quickly, Vexeron used his magic to pluck the nearby Samad out of the water and dangle him just in front of Ehlyna who proceeded to knock him unconscious with a bow from her solid dwarven fist. Vexeron then used another spell to pull Kallin from the water and do the same. Unfortunately, Kallin proved to be more difficult to knock out and Ehlyna had to hit her friend quite a few times before he finally succumbed. As Vexeron turned his attention to Vosk he saw a large black shape emerge from the water, open a wide, toothy mouth, grab Vosk and then disappear beneath the water. A long, dark tail flopped up as the beast, what appeared to be another giant eel, disappeared. With two companions unconscious and Daellin missing, the heroes could do nothing but mourn the loss of their newest companion, the Pathfinder Vosk. They tied the three boats together and continued on along the near wall, looking for Daellin.

Samad being levitated upside down and knocked out by Ehlyna... while riding in a boat!

The Beach

Daellin eventually made it to the far end of the lake to a grotto that was light nearly as bright as day by heavy concentrations of the glowing plant material. He landed on a sandy beach and saw many sets of booted footprints and two small rowboats nearby. He was drawn to a spot on the natural cavern wall and just knew there was some sort of passageway there. After a moment of searching, he found it and the concealed door rotated back revealing a smaller cavern beyond.

This cave had piles of fishing gear and nets against one wall and a low burning cook fire in the center of the room with a pot of something tasty hanging over it. A large red paneled door stood at the far end of the room. He looked around the room and found nothing else interesting. Realizing he was no longer under the magical compulsion, he went back out to the beach and searched around. He saw what looked like two tunnels leading away from the beach into the rock wall.

Crashing the Dinner Party

He decided that he needed to make sure this area was secure before his friends arrived, also assuming they too had succumbed to the compulsion to get to this area. He went back through the cave to the red panel and pressed the center panel. The square briefly showed glowing Thassalonian runes then the whole thing began opening into a well lit and furnished room with a long dinner table. At the table were seated 6 armored women. They immediately leapt to their feet and demanded that he surrender as they readied their swords, shields and helms.

A Grey Maiden

Daellin immediately tries to sweet talk the formidable looking ladies but his attempts fall flat and through some sort of mind controlling magic, they force him to surrender and take him captive and disarm him. While surrounded, one of the knights attempts to grab him, which Daellin uses as an excuse to Blink. Hoping there is a room behind one of the several doors lining the wall he has backed up to, he magically teleports and finds himself in a nearly pitch black room full of what looks like ruined furniture and junk. A faint sliver of light comes in under a door in front of him. He can hear the knights on the other side of the door frantically looking for him. He quickly cloaks himself in an Invisibility spell and hides. The door to his room opens briefly while one of the knights looks in but then closes when he is not detected.

Daellin can hear the knights shouting and arguing among themselves but their conversation soon switches when the call of “boats approaching” is heard. Daellin assumes it is his companions finally making their way across the underground lake. Exhausted and without the magical reserve he can tap from his sword, Maelos, Daellin tries to put together a plan of limited resources.

Beachhead

Ehlyna and Calina poled the boats forward, pulling Vexeron’s boat behind. Kallin and Samad were still unconscious. As they moved northward, they could see a brighter light shining up ahead and assumed that was where they needed to go. They rounded an outcropping of rock to see a brightly lit grotto with a sandy beach circling it. Two wooden boats were beached off to the right and as they approached, what appeared to be some sort of secret door opened in the rocky wall directly across from them and armed and armored knights began pouring out. These knights, 7 of them, all armed with sword and shield, took up crossbows and assumed a defensive position on the beach, training their bolts on the approaching heroes.

A blurry overhead. The party is on the left in their boats, the knights are on the beach at the right.

One of the knights called out in Chelaxian for the boats to stop and approach no further. With the boats stopped across a small bay, the two groups began to converse, first in Chelaxian, then in Varisian (which the knight spoke fluently) when it was clear that Chelaxian was not the Heroes native tongue.

view from the beach

From the party's perspective

The knights informed the Heroes that they had captured the Elf they had sent to scout and demanded that the approaching boats turn around and return they way they came. The Heroes denied knowing about any Elf, though they are certain the knights did not believe them. They said they wanted nothing to do with the knights and would happily turn back the way they came, but only needed to land briefly on the beach to tend to some of their wounded. The knights allowed them to land but told them they must remain on the far side of the beach and they would be shot if they made any false moves. At least half of the crossbows were trained on Vexeron and the knights made sure he knew that they knew he was a wizard.

A Hasty Plan - What Could Go Wrong?

As the knights moved their position up along the beach a bit, the Heroes got their boats to shore and unloaded their two unconscious companions while constructing a hasty plan of attack. While being shielded by his companions, Vexeron would use his magic to move a good amount of sand out from under the front line of the knights with crossbows and create a high mound directly in front of them while at the same time allowing water from the underground lake to rush in and bog them down.

Ready to fight on the beach.

Ehlyna and Calina both activated their Sihedron Amulets, imbuing themselves with extra life while Vexeron cast his spell. He shouted his magical words of power and almost immediately the crossbows went off with an echoing twang. The look of smug satisfaction on Vexeron’s face quickly turned to horrified shock as he realized that his magic had failed terribly at the most critical of moments. Instead of a large mass of sand shifting and creating a barrier and water hazard, the only thing that happened was a wispy puff of sand dust that quickly disappeared into the air. Multiple bolts struck both Vexeron and Ehlyna, though Calina was able to avoid being hit.

More Session Pics

Approaching in the boats

Disembarking (blurry, need to get better lighting or another camera for these pics!)

Session Notes

Missing a few players and one of the PC's (who had been on NPC mode for some time) happened to meet an unfortunate end via evil enchantments, nakedness and a giant eel. I always feel bad when PCs die, but this worked out well. If Jim is ever able to return to the campaign on a regular basis, we will figure something else out, but Vosk was just too much dead weight. RIP Vosk.

Characters Present:

Kallin Hawkril, Half-Orc shaman and budding Priest of Pharasma - played by +Daniel Ernst
Calina - Varisian Human archer and scout - played by +Carol Coburn
Daellin Silvanthalas, Elven Farstrider Ranger - played by +Ben Lipe
Vexeron, Human wizard - played by +Greg Grady
Ehlyna Fuzziface - Dwarven Warrior - played by +Jodi H
Samad Aldhul, Human ex-mercenary - played by +JeCorey Holder
Vosk, Half-Orc Pathfinder who gets the job done, no matter what - played by +james schaffner 

and +Jason Woollard as the DM