Grand Duchy 76

Grand Duchy of Adventure

Session 76
January 14, 2016

Another Valley

Loshdain 23 Yarthmont

The Grey Company finally makes it to the end of the dangerous mountain road they had been following for the previous few days. The road ends at a large stone wall with two huge stone gates blocking the way. The stone gates are heavy and immovable. Draven utilizes his Boots of Levitation to bypass the wall and gates and finds the inside of the gates barred with a huge beam. He also discovers two living Hutaakan statues that move to attack when he arrives. He quickly reveals the magical needle to them and they return to their posts, moving no further.

The beam is moved and the rest of the Company passes the gates with no further incident. Griffin manages to shoot one of the birds that had been roosting on the top of the wall as they pass, supplementing the dwindling supply of food the Company has. Past the wall is the entrance to yet another mountain valley. This valley is different though as it contains numerous signs of habitation in the form of villages, shrines arches and fountains. 

Near the end of the Foamfire river, another valley is discovered filled with numerous stone ruins

Upon closer examination, all of the structures in the valley appear to be abandoned ruins. As the Company descends into the valley, they notice that there are no animals or birds present. On the way down into the valley, there are several times when loose rocks on the nearby slope become dislodges and slide down but no reason can be detected as to why they fell. The whole way down into the valley, Iris becomes more and more excited at the prospect of exploring a whole valley of ruins that appear to be fairly intact and potentially unspoiled.

Once down into the valley, the Company passes through what looks to be a ruined village. A cursory examination reveals very little. A mile further along the path takes the Company past a small, ruined shrine of indeterminable faith. Iris eagerly approaches the ruined building and quickly finds herself surrounded by a horde of ghouls and skeletons that had been hiding in the dark places near the shrine. 

Iris is surrounded by foes and Draven positions himself at the center of the undead horde

The members of the Grey Company spring into action. The undead, both Zombies and Skeletons, are engaged and within a few moments, defeated. Draven put his Disrupt Undead spell to good use, destroying some and sending some others fleeing.

The unliving abominations are blasted by Draven's divine might

Marcel got separated from the rest of his companions but managed to survive the encounter due to expert use of his spear and shield, including his famed Traladaran Spinning Spank-a-Roo. Meanwhile, Iris found herself grappled by four zombies, though two of them were destroyed by Draven's holy might.

Marcel engages several skeletons while Ree fights one close by

Unfortunately, Iris was unable to break free from her undead grapplers and was forced to the ground where she was gnawed upon by the zombies. Griffin moved in quickly and helped free her while Draven dispatched the few remaining abominations.

Griffin Comes to Iris's aid while Draven battles a skeleton nearby

Session Notes

Another good live session on the Roll20 for the Grey Company. Getting to the end of the set of sessions that comprised the "grind" of the quest. It was a hard, hard, hard journey through the mountains punctuated by hazards caused by weather and terrain in addition to animal/monster trouble. The racking up of failed hiking/riding/survival rolls were depleting long term FP (can only be recovered by 8 hours comfortable rest with hot food and diminishing travel rations were making the Company a bit on edge.

The combat in this session was completely randomly rolled as the archaeologist/ historian excitedly rushed to examine a nearby ruined shrine. A horde of undead rose up to attack her. During the combat, Draven the Cleric of Karameikos, positioned himself in the middle of a knot of Zombies and Skeletons and let loose with a casting of Disrupt Undead, an improved Cleric only version of Turn Undead. Here is my spell:

Disrupt Undead 

Area 

Divine Blessings, Necromantic 

This spell deals 1d+1 damage to any undead creature per point of base energy. Caster may power base cost up to PI. DR does not protect. Also roll 1d6 per zombie, on a 1 (+ additional Base energy), the Zombie flees from the caster. Must be centered on the caster. 

This spell always contains a verbal component.

Duration: Instant 

Base Cost: 1 per 1d+1. Max Base is PI. 

Prerequisite: Divine Style, Turn Zombie

It is basically a quicker, more powerful version of Turn Undead so the Cleric had a bit more utility vs Undead horde battles. It seems to work well in play and I don't feel so guilty throwing hordes of undead at the party!

Cast of Characters

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard 

Marcel Maas, a homely but sincere wielder of spears aspiring to cooking greatness commanded by +Christian Blouin 

Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos ministered by +Jason Packer 

Iris Varda, a Thyatian explorer and historian searching for answers and adventure guided by +Alex Safatli 

and +Jason Woollard as The DM