GoCorral

This session was held over Google Hangouts using Roll20 as an app. We’d had some problems in the past with Roll20’s facechat plugin, but never with Hangouts. This worked way better once we set it up. The session was attended by Avery, Trajan, Will, and Jamie. Avery arrived a bit late.

Harrowing Speed

Last time our group of Rebel heroes got kidnapped by the Alliance hero group. The Rebels were taken back to the Rebel camp and then Gazeara where the main force of the Rebels had relocated and captured the city. With the city captured, Major Dactirian no longer needed Stevie the Wonder Wagon constantly running supplies to his field army. Thus he allowed the Rebel group to take Stevie and race off to the mountains.

Stevie travels about 30MPH when loaded down with people. He’s a construct, so he doesn’t get tired. He got as far as he could into the foothills in about 19 hours. Stevie sang “The Wheels on the Wagon,” and “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” and played “I Spy” the whole way there. Gregor, Sivirdm, Wu, Korjak, Stanton, and Reggy bumped along in the back all the way and felt awful after arriving. They’d left at dawn and arrived in the middle of the night. The six adventurers crawled out of the wagon and collapsed, leaving Stevie on watch for dangerous things.

Hunter’s Hospitality

In the morning the party awoke to the smell of burning wood and cooking beans. They saw a man of Xorian ethnicity wearing fur clothing, fur boots, and a fur hat. He sat by a cooking fire with the party’s cooking pot and tripod stewing some beans for breakfast. The man’s large pack, spear, and unstrung bow laid to the side. “Morning friends! I came upon your strange camp and thought I’d make breakfast for all of us.”
Gregor the orc got up and asked, “Who are you sir?”
“My name is Talarian. I’m a hunter by trade, fur hunter as you can see. I was talking with your wagon here, Stevie, and he said I could get some breakfast ready for all of us. Want some beans?” He offered a spoonful to Gregor and as well as the others would had now woken up. A chorus of “No thank yous” went around the camps as no one wanted food prepared by this stranger.
“Suit yourself. What are your names?”
Stanton said, “My name is Aldarian! Apprentice to the mighty wizard, Amalius!” (You can see where he got those names from…)
Gregor said, “And I am Tagenadi the Brave!”
The rest declined to offer their names. (However, at some point Korjak, Reggy, Sivirdm, and Wu’s names all came up in conversation. I don’t remember precisely when though)
Talarian said, “Apprentice to a mighty wizard, eh? But you don’t even have a spellbook.”
“Look at our method of transport. What other proof do you need of how powerful my master is?”
“True enough. But what about you ‘Tagenadi?’ That’s a Xorian name and I’ve never head of a Xorian orc!” The hunter smiled as he ate a spoonful of beans.
“I was a slave in the quarries of Jeutontic. Tagenadi is my slave name.”
“Fine, fine. Keep your secrets. Everyone has a right to be wary of strangers up in these mountains.”
Gregor asked, “Any news of whats further north?”
“Yes in fact. I used to hunt bears exclusively. The pelts are worth far more than any other.” Talarian fondled the bear paws that tied his cloak around his shoulders. “But some scaly fire-breathing bear has taken up residence at the lake where the bears congregate. There’s no good hunting anymore. I came down south into the hills a couple years ago to trap deer, squirrels, rabbits, and other such animals. Until a few months ago everything was fine. Then I started to notice an offness to the wildlife. Everything felt wrong and my traps were often empty. I went to the oracle at Sheerzen and asked her how I could be saved. She said, ‘Two-skins would be my salvation.’ Who knows what that means?
“Anyways, Just yesterday when I was resetting a trap I was attacked. A black panther snuck up behind me. Normally my fine ears would hear animals sneaking around in the woods, so this was quite a shock. I shook it off my forearm, grabbed my spear, and was able to keep it at bay with that. Eventually it slunk away into the woods. I was just going down to Sheerzen to get it looked at. Not good to have a wound like this for long.” He took off his fur coat to show a large bloody bite mark in his left arm.
Korjak stood up and said, “We can handle that. If you’ll allow me?” Korjak took out his wand of healing.
“Now hold on a minute! Let me take a look at that first.” Talarian held out his hand for the wand. Korjak gave it to him. The hunter turned the wand over a few times before handing it back to Talarian. “Seems fine. Go ahead.”
While Korjak used the wand on Talarain, Gregor asked, “How do you know so much about wands?”
“Well, I don’t. It’s just general knowledge really. Wands I’ve seen always look like what they do. White wands are good. Bad wands are red or black. Makes sense if you think about it.”
After eating in silence Gregor said, “Talarian, you have a bow there, do you shoot?”
“Yes, of course. I shoot game to eat if my traps don’t catch anything.” While Talarian spoke, Stanton stealthily reached into one of his pockets and pulled out whatever was contained within.
“Would you care to place a wager in an archery contest?” Stanton reached towards the pot of beans that Talarian had prepared. While getting more beans he dropped the bowstring he’d taken from Talarian’s pocket into the pot. Stanton pushed the string to the bottom of the pot with the ladle.
“Oh no. I never gamble. A friendly contest sounds like fun though.”
“Sure. Wu, how about you go find a good target while our friend gets his bow ready.”
Talarian rummaged around in his pockets, but couldn’t find his bowstring. He searched through the pouches on his belt, then moved over to check his pack. Not wanting to be left out of the pickpocket fun, Sivirdm moved in. Unfortunately, Talarian was more aware this time. He turned around and shouted, “AHA! It was you! You took my bowstring! I knew I hadn’t misplaced it!”
Talarian moved on Sivirdm, but before he could grab him Gregor kicked the halfling in the ribs. “Needn’t worry about that thief. Here, take my bowstring.” Gregor handed his own bowstring to Talarian.
Talarian grumbled, “I’ll consider it a guest gift.”

Wu came back and announced that he’d found a place to hold the archery contest. A good target on a tree stood with a 50 foot range. Talarian grabbed his pack, fearing more thievery. The group moved over to the range. Talarian, Wu, and Gregor took shots. Stanton took the chance to silently riffle through Talarian’s pack even with the hunter’s precautions. He found nothing of interest. Just typical hunter equipment, furs, and food. (The players shared at this point that they suspected Talarian was a Xorian spy.) A detect magic also revealed nothing of interest.

Wu won the contest, Talarian got second, and Gregor took third. They congratulated each other and went back to camp.

Upon getting back Gregor said, “Have you seen any unusual lizard activity this far north?”
Talarian said, “No. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just the normal amount of lizards on the trail that scoot around when they see you coming.”
“That’s not quite what I meant. Any dragovinian activity?”
“No… Although now that you mention it, that scaly bear that breathes fire reminds me of those dragovinian animals they’ve got at Sheerzen. Maybe the dragovinians are keeping me from my livelihood there as well you think?”
“Maybe.”
Talarian asked, “I don’t suppose you folks will tell me what you’re doing this far north will you?”
Stanton said, “We’re headed to the bear lake to kill the dragovinian bear.”
Gregor stomped on Stanton’s foot.
Stanton quickly continued, “Then we’ll build a fortress on top of the mountain. We’ll take the skins of all the bears and sell them. With the money we’ll make an even bigger fortress and then we’ll go dragon hunting!”
Talarian said, “I see. You’re going to make a bear farm up there? Is that the idea?”
“Yes. Definitely.”
“Alright then. No shame in being cautious. I’ll be on my way then.” Talarian packed up his things and headed north after saying goodbye once again.

Wild North

The party rested another day before following the same trail Talarian took deeper into the mountains. It became quite clear that Talarian might be the only one who used this trail as the party went further. The trail got less and less maintained as they went further until all that remained was an animal track.

The further they went into the wild the less noise they heard from animals. Fewer birds sang, fewer animals scurried off the path as the party came by, and fewer scat and fur signs were seen on the trail. Eventually all the party could hear was the crunch of fallen leaves and sticks beneath their boots. Reggy told the story of Actaeon discovering Artemis naked. She cursed him to change into a deer and be eaten by his own dogs.

After traveling for several hours a deer burst through the foliage and continued running to the west. The party stood for a moment before going on. Around nightfall the party found a small cleared rise by a creek. They set up camp there for the night with double watches.
During the first watch of Korjak and Sivirdm, the halfling noticed a movement in the trees to the east. He alerted the others. Everyone woke up and armed themselves. Wu kept watch on the trees with his bow. He saw more movement among the plants, but he was unable to place where the creature causing the movement was. However, with no wind, he was sure that something was there.

The movement drew closer and then the creature struck. A vine whipped down and constricted around Wu, but he pulled himself free. The movement belonged to an assassin vine! Gregor, Korjak, Reggy, and Sivirdm moved into melee with the plant monster. Gregor scored a good hit and severed the plant’s main vine. The plant used its mystical connection with other plants to cause the whole forest to convulse around the party members. Then the vine began to shuffle away through the trees. Wu used his own magic to try and entrap the vine similarly, but it riggled free. The others chased after it and dealt it a few blows. Then Wu sent an arrow volley that blew through the vine, rendering it dead on the ground.

Korjak healed Wu back to health. After scouring the forest for similar threats the party went back to sleep. During the second watch of Gregor and Reggy another attack occurred. A black panther came out of nowhere and mauled Reggy. Reggy went down. Gregor leaped into action and swatted at the panther. The others woke up and the panther retreated, turning into a ghostly white version of itself as it did so. Gregor stepped forward and took another swipe at the panther with his greatsword, resulting in a devastating cut on the ghost’s shoulder. The panther turned invisible. Stanton cast see invisibility and pointed out the location of the panther. Gregor prepared to attack it if it charged him. The panther did. Gregor’s sword speared the panther as it mauled his shoulder. The panther fell upon Gregor as it succumbed to its injuries.

Thinking the panther’s skin might be magical, Gregor asked Wu to skin the beast. As Wu took his knife to the beast, the panther shimmered and turned into a pure black naked woman. It was like the human version of a drow. The woman wore two golden bracelets, one with red gems and the other with green gems. Stanton discovered that the bracelets were magical, but experimentation failed to reveal the effects of the bracelets.

The party got through the rest of the night undisturbed. While traveling further north the next day Wu spotted a dragon-like creature flying through the air. The party took cover, knowing the Terror Mountains reputation for dragons. However, Gregor and Korjak were unable to hide their orkin bodies fast enough. The draconic beast dived on Korjak. Wu shot arrows at it before it landed. Stanton blinded it just as it dive neared its end. Korjak and Gregor got out their swords and prepared to scissor it. It was able to wound Korjak with talons and a tail stinger as it landed, but the combined attacks severely injured the dragon. It writhed blindly on the ground. The whole group descended on it and turned it into mulch.

Korjak healed himself up and his tough constitution completely resisted the poison in the wyvern’s stinger. Gregor severed the stinger and threw it in the same sack that held the rotting cockatrices gathered earlier.

No other encounters interrupted the day and the party camped safely through the night.

The next day the party reached a fork in the trail. One path led off to the right. The other led straight north and higher into the mountains. Korjak told the party that they were close to the bear lake and that they’d be there soon if they took the left path. Wanting to know how well traveled the path was, Wu looked for tracks. Instead of tracks he found three sticks planted unnaturally in the ground between the two tines of the “fork.” The sticks were planted like so,

with two on the left close together and one on the right, apart from the others. After examining the sticks the party thought it might be an arrow pointing to the right. Sivirdm tried pulling the sticks out, but found himself too weak. The party guessed that the sticks were attached to something under the ground, but felt it wasn’t a root. Gregor pulled with his mighty strength. He pulled open a box buried with the dirt. Inside the box was a silver trident head with its barbs pointing to the left. The party guessed this meant that the lake lay to the left and something else was to the right. Additionally, Stanton found the trident to be magic. A haft was quickly honed from a good tree branch to use the trident if necessary.

Bear Lake

At dusk the party reached bear lake. A waterfall poured down into the lake from the north while a second waterfall drained the small lake into a river going down the mountain. A cliff face surrounded the lake with a short rocky beach. Many caves dotted the cliff side that the party guessed were bear dens. Fish jumped in the lake and as the party exited the forest Wu caught a glimpse of a bear-like shape at the top of the waterfall.

Sivirdm went forward and peaked on the bear dens. Sleeping bears lay within. A larger den lay by the waterfall. Feeling the dragovinian beastie might be there, the party prepared to negotiate with the bear. They made a bowl of stew and dressed Wu and Gregor up as druids with wooden staves. They approached the cave and saw a large scaly red bear within. Tufts of hair peaked out from its scales and its dead red eyes stared at the party as they approached.

Wu wore the necklace of speak with animals and spoke, “Great bear! We bring an offering of stew for you and wish to ask something in return.” He set the stew down in front of the bear and it came out to eat. “We wish you to tell us the secret the druids entrusted with you long ago.”
The bear spoke, “Stew for me and secrets for you?”
“Yes. Will you tell us the prophecy of the druids.”
The bear growled and then said, “Yes. Rararak the great bear will tell you. I will eat the stew first.” Rararak dug into the bowl and lapped up all the stew’s liquid, leaving the solids behind. “Weak stew.”
Rararak lumbered forward. “So you want to know the secret of the druids?”
“Yes.”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Lean in. I’ll whisper it to you.”

Wu leaned in and Rararak breathed fire directly on him and the rest of the party. Reggy dropped at the beginning of the combat once again. Gregor called for a retreat while Korjak ordered an attack. Sivirdm circled around the back to flank Rararak. Korjak assumed the form of Baldr and engaged Rararak. Gregor joined in as well. Wu backed off and took a shot at the bear. Rararak targeted Baldr, going through most of his health in a few seconds. Stanton blinded Rararak with a spell. Korjak changed his mind and decided a retreat was best. He grabbed Reggy while Gregor grabbed Sivirdm and Wu.

Rararak gave chase even while blind. As the bear moved forward a rock sailed down from over the waterfall. The rock landed in front of Rararak and he tripped over it landing at the feet of Gregor. Looking up the party saw a giant above the waterfall. Changing their minds with the new ally, the party turned on Rararak. Baldr started healing everyone. Stanton cast spider climb on Wu so he could climb the cliff face for a clear line of fire to the bear. Sivirdm flipped over the back of the bear and stabbed it from behind. Gregor cut it up from the front. The giant hefted another rock and prepared to throw it if needed. More arrows from Wu, mace hits from Sivirdm, and sword hits from Gregor brought Rararak into the wounded state where all dragovinians attempt to escape.

We assumed the party could bring Rararak down from there, but a few of us had to take a break then. They hadn’t decided whether they’d cut off Rararak’s legs and interrogate him or just cut off his head. We’ll see at the next session.