| Player | Characters |
|---|---|
| Corky | Raifer, Indigo, Marci, Jerri |
| Mac | Ruurik, Cade, Justin, Tyrade |
| Debbie | Bekki, Jimmi, Booty |
| Felix | Warrex, Alydra |
| NPC's | Vern and Wilma (farmers), Herm (farmer), Parker, Meercon |
The old timers name was Vern and his wife was Wilma. They had 3 days to find out as much as they could while they waited for the support team from Al-Alin so they asked Vern to tell them what he could and a story he told. The dwarven assassins had been through his place 4 or 5 times in the past few months. Each time raiding their house, taking advantage of their home and threatening them with all sorts of repercussions should they blab. Each time they came they farmer and his wife were bound and placed in their bedroom until the interlopers left. But the last time they were there the dwarves left something behind. 4 medallions that made Ruurik’s blood run cold. These items were stuff of legend in Sudalon. Trinkets of urban legend that represented the local boogey man.
A detect magic on the devices revealed they were indeed magical. An attempt to perform an Object Reading by Jimi only revealed a vision of the old man and his wife that he would sooner forget. And an Identify revealed a Magic Mouth enchantment. But a search of the house yielded what appeared to be a map of the defensive layout of Al-Alin hidden behind a painting. Raifer decided to use this map to deceive the approaching Sudalon army by replacing it with a bogus version that would lead the aggressors awry and Indigo set about recreating the new version of the document. A further search of the dwarves produced one more item. A potion vial sewn in to a small pocket of the garment of the lead dwarf. What it was they could not tell until the dwarven support team arrived and identified it as Oil of Etherealness. As a precaution during the waiting time a scouting party was sent out to scan the surrounding area. At the outer reach of the 10 miles or so they would travel they ran in to a very skittish farmer who ran when he caught sight of the party. Raifer gave chase and caught up to the local and was able to gain a measure of trust. Herm was his name and he agreed to ‘send word’ to Vern’s farm if he saw anything. After that, a good watch post location was found along a tree line and manned by Bekki, Marci and Tyrade with the intent of looking for the oncoming army. There they watched for a day and a half when Bekki spotted a small group moving through the fields towards Herm’s place. The group was watched as they navigated through the fields and surrounded the farm house. Herm emerged from the house, ran down the steps and raced for his and disappeared in to his barn. A few minutes later a bird flew out and headed away followed by Herm running for the house. But Herm would not get there as he fell going up his stairs. He struggled to keep going up them but would eventually collapse only to be dragged in to the house by the dwarves as they moved in and took over. At this point the scout team decided to head back as quickly as possible. Back at Vern’s, the carrier pigeon made its way to the house with a note from Herm warning them of the approaching teams of dwarves. Herm reported that he spotted 2 teams and a total of 10 or 12 attackers. With this news, Raifer convinced Vern to take his wife and leave. The Dwarves from Al-Alin completed the false defensive map with Indigo and made preparations for their departure in the morning. The main party would also leave in the morning, head north and then west looping around towards Umbriola to set up in the forest north east of the city. The group set out and travelled for 2 quiet days before spotting what appeared to be a sizable force moving south and east of them. They quickly moved behind the natural cover of the area and continued their trip. But as they day wore on it became apparent there was something coming after them. Raifer was first to spot something moving. Then Cade and Justin. Somehow it seemed they were being flanked on both sides. Justin and Cade fired arrow shots to the location they thought they spotted movement. Warrex noted the terrain and pointed out the natural cover that would provide a perfect stealth approach. And as they noticed these details the enemy emerged from both sides around their caravan. A contingent of dwarves, 2 gnomes and 2 fish men looking creatures flanked the north from out of the natural cover and a small contingent of 5 dwarves moved up in formation from the south. Raifer gave the order for the wagons to move up fast to close the team up to a defensible arrangement. Parker and Booty spurned on their horse but the carts were slowed. Alydra spotted the Entangle spell effects wrapping up the horses and wagon wheels. The group tried to close formation and the enemies closed in from both sides, splitting the attention of the group as they needed to defend against both sides. At that moment one of the Gnomes cast a Fog Cloud that spread out and obscured the oncharging dwarves making it more difficult to see and attack them. And the battle then began in earnest. Arrow and crossbow shots whizzed to their targets from both sides with many flights striking home. The two fish-men creatures had turned to engage Raifer and Warrex swinging wildly at them with their poison dripped claws. Meercon and Ruurik moved in to engage the dwarves obscured by the fog cloud and the Wagons finally came to a stop outside the Entangled area allowing the passengers to finally exit the cart safely. The team attacked both flanks of the dwarven attackers. Marci, still on her horse galloped around the small group to the south and fired bow shots in to their ranks but something struck her odd about them. She could not put her finger on it but then thought it might be an illusion. With A successful disbelieve the small group to the south disappeared and now there was only the group to the north to attend. But that group was moving forward with the fog cloud as cover towards the bulk of the party. The wagon riders all exited their vehicles without incident except for Booty, who fell from the buckboard at the side of her wagon. Bow shots flew while Raifer and Warrex traded blows with the fish-men. Both were struck several times taking damage and effected by the poison. Warrex was having no luck as he dropped his weapon and tried several times to swing with his fists at the creature. Little by little they finally wore down these odd creatures and finally finished them off, but not before an Invisible dwarf backstabbed Raifer for a significant hit and then retreated back to the Gnome wizard who immediately cast Invisibility on the dwarf again. The attacks went back and forth, the group getting the better of the melee slowly wearing down the dwarven party. Garan used his Spiritual Hammer, Indigo used Aganaver’s Scorcher and Parker Blessed as much of the team as she could. The dwarves numbers were dropping and the Gnomes tried to cast several spells on Ruurik and Marci that were unsuccessful. Alydra pierced one of the gnomes for a 4th time dropping the caster. The battle had turned. Strikes from Bekki, Jerri, Ruurik and Warrex each dropped an enemy leaving only a few. But one of the dwarves was invisible and unaccounted for and the remaining gnome then cast Invisibility on himself and disappeared for good as well. The last dwarf remaining decided it was better to surrender than suffer sure death. Jerri, who was charging in to attack, pulled up and ordered everyone to stop and for the dwarf to drop his knees. The battle was a win, they had a prisoner, but at least 2 of the opponents had gotten away.Next time ...
This page and its contents are presented solely for the purpose of the RPG game events conducted by a private group. Any references to people or places is explicitly within the context of these RPG games and has no connection to any other similarly named source.
Bob Senkewicz / Howell, New Jersey / senk@optonline.net