GoCorral

This session was attended by Trajan, Avery, Will, Ben, and Jamie. The session was held over Google Hangouts using the app for Roll20. We’re gearing up for a combo session between the two different campaigns soon, but are not quite there yet. This session also marks the introduction of Will’s new character, Demetrius the Knight of Athena. He’s using the paladin class to get into the cavalier prestige class for maximum charging damage.

Fear Filled Basement

The session started with the party resting for the night in the intact building in the ruins. No one wanted to risk exploring more of the secret basement. A watch was set. The sounds of various critters eating the ogre remains could be heard, but nothing dangerous came close to the intact building.

In the morning Sivirdm was lowered down into the basement with a rope tied to his waist in case he needed to be pulled out quickly. He searched everywhere for traps and, finding none, pushed open the stone door at the end of the hallway. Flames shot out of the doorway as he pushed it! Sivirdm deftly ducked below the flames and pushed the door the rest of the way open.

He came upon a room very similar to the first. Masonry stone walls with a dirt floor. Two doors were on the opposite wall. One on the left side of the room and one on the right. Sivirdm searched the room and found no traps before approaching the right door and giving it a push.

A magical trap went off as soon as Sivirdm touched the door. His worst nightmare appeared before him. Stricken with terror, Sivirdm fled the room screaming. Korjak and Gregor heaved on the rope and pulled Sivirdm out of the basement. The halfling continued to panic, running into the jungle. The two orcine men pulled him back on the rope. Korjak attempted to reason with the halfling and ask him what happened, but Sivirdm only babbled incoherently. Gregor picked him up in a bear hug and held Sivirdm to prevent him from hurting himself. After several minutes Sivirdm calmed down and was able to speak.

“You can put me down now. I’m okay. There was a door I tried to open on the right of the next room. It scared me, but I’m alright now.”
Korjak asked, “Are you good to go back in?”
“I think so.”
Sivirdm moved to lower himself back into the basement, but as his feet left the dirt aboveground he began to panic once more. “Nope! Nope! Can’t go back in there! I’m sorry guys!”

Korjak and Gregor sighed before going down in themselves. Korjak approached the door and steeled himself for the coming fear. He pushed against the door and his greatest nightmare reared its ugly head. Korjak screamed as well and fled from the room. He climbed the rope back up to the surface and fled into the jungle with no one strong enough to restrain him left aboveground.

Gregor, fearing the same thing happening to him, sat on the ground facing the door and began meditating on his greatest fear. He would not let if affect him the same way it had affected the others. He would overcome his fear and push through the door. Soon Korjak returned and Gregor was ready to face the door. He raised the magic shield of the frog man and charged the door. His nightmare appeared before him and he broke through. The door was open!

Stanton came down to watch over Gregor in the next room. Both doors from the previous room had short passageways before they emptied into the same room. The left door remained closed, but the right door had been forced by Gregor. At the other end of the thirty foot long room was a large wooden chest with metal bracing. A large lock stood on the chest.

Gregor yelled towards the entrance to the basement, “Hey Sivirdm! We’ve got a locked chest down here! Can you come take a look?”
“Nope! Sorry! Too scared!”
“Fine.”

Gregor looked over the chest as best he could before stepping back beside the passageway to the closed left door. Stanton stood in the passageway of the right door as he cast a knock on the chest. It popped open. At the same time stone walls crashed down at the end of the passageways, trapping Gregor in the room. Stanton shouted for help. Korjak turned into Baldr and came down to meet Stanton.

Gregor relayed what was happening in the room, “The far wall is coming at me! I’ll bash my way out!” Gregor hefted his sword and began slamming it against the stone wall that covered the right passageway. Baldr joined him as the far wall drew closer and closer, pushing the chest along the ground as it approached. Stanton, doing his best to help, cast detect secret doors. There was a secret door!

The two orc friends kept slamming against the wall, cutting piece after piece away. Stanton found a secret door between the left and right doors. He puzzled over how to open it. The far wall drew closer and closer. Stanton found the release and opened the door. It revealed a short passageway that ended in another secret door. In the middle of the passageway was a medium sized chest. Stanton stepped around the chest to reach the back secret door. It was too late though! He heard the closing wall crunch against the larger wooden chest on the other side of the secret door.

It wasn’t too late for Gregor though. He and Baldr had managed to cut their way through stone and free the orc barbarian. Exhausted from the ordeal, the party grabbed the medium chest and left the basement.

Cracking the chest open aboveground revealed a pile of gold coins, a golden scepter, a gold crown encrusted with jewels, and a wicked looking green dagger with a serrated edge. With all the treasure secured the party packed their gear up and headed back towards the mining town to meet with Spilnat.

Riverside Chat

On the second day of travel back to the mining town the group encountered a group of lizardfolk while crossing a river. The lizardfolk were walking downstream in the river. As everyone else was surprised, Sivirdm slipped off into the bushes to flank the lizards. The lizards began shouting at the party in Draconic, but no one understood that language, no one except Sivirdm that is, and he had just left. Korjak and Gregor shouted back. Gregor got up on a rock and roared at them. They roared back in Draconic, “Get off our rock!”
Cooler heads prevailed when Korjak said in Orc, “Do you speak Orc?”
One of the lizardfolk came forward, “Yes, I do. Tell your friend to get down from that rock. It is ours, as is this river, and you will have to pay to cross.”
Korjak told Gregor to get down and the group conferred amongst each other. Korjak turned back to the lizardfolk that spoke Orc, “How much?”
“Two goats.”
Gregor said, “How about four goats and you tell us a little bit about the surrounding area.”
“Deal!”
The lizardfolk that spoke Orc relayed the information in Draconic to the largest of the lizards who wore a suit of chain armor. The larger one came forward and shook Korjak’s hand, securing the deal. After learning the deal was translated into Common for the others in the party they helped to readjust the gear onto the few remaining goats and cut off four from the herd to give the lizardfolk.
The translator lizard spoke again in Orc, “Would you like to join us for lunch while we talk about the jungle?”
Gregor said, “Sure, but let us treat you.”
Gregor moved to slaughter one of the goats and Reggy asked, “Why are you giving away so many of our goats?”
“I hate the things.” Gregor slit the goat’s neck and the two groups prepared a barbeque by the side of the river.
Sivirdm struck up a conversation in Draconic with one of the Lizardfolk, comparing the differences in the hunting grounds they grew up in. Gregor and Korjak spoke a little bit with the translator, but most conversation between the two groups was limited to non-verbal communication.
As the meal concluded the lizardfolk leader presented Gregor with a potion, saying, “This potion will make you strong and brave when danger is near.” The Orc-fluent lizardfolk and Sivirdm translated for the rest. Gregor thanked the lizardfolk for their gift and the two groups went on their way.

Knightly New Face

Our brave adventurers got back to the mining town and were met by Spilnat. They presented all the treasure except for the potions and the dagger, which they kept to themselves. Spilnat and Korjak took the scepter and the crown to the town’s general store to have them appraised and came back with a total of around 3,500GP for both of them. The party offered Spilnat 750GP as his share of the treasure and he happily accepted, having never seen that much money in his life. They unloaded their copper and silver coins on to him and thanked him for sharing the treasure map.

The group was still left with a sizeable amount of gold, enough that it might weigh them down when they headed into the mountains. How could they make this wealth more portable? Normally you could transform the wealth into platinum pieces or gems, but the small mining town lacked a money changer for that. The town did have a temple though, and temples have potions. The group went to talk with Priest Farian and acquire some potions.

Priest Farian accommodated the party. As he found what they were looking for a human warrior in fullplate, riding a magnificent horse, approached the temple. He dismounted and then dismissed his horse, which disappeared in a shimmer of light.
“I am Demetrius, son of Demetrius. You are the band of adventurers known as Korjak, Gregor, Draco, Sivirdm, and Stanton?”
Korjak said, “Yes, although Draco died in battle only a few days previously.”
“I am sorry to hear that. I am hear to take charge of your band and set you on the right path! Dactirian finally got word of what you’ve been up to and he’s sent me to prevent anymore of your bungling.”
“Interesting… Do you have any papers?”
“Yes of course.” Demetrius pulled a paper out from his backpack and presented it to the party.
Korjak noted its official seal before saying, “Let’s go somewhere else to talk about this. We’ll be back later today, Farian!”
The group went a little bit off from the temple to talk amongst themselves.
Korjak said, “Can I see that paper in better detail?”
“Here.” Demetrius held the paper in front of Korjak, but did not relinquish the paper to the half-orc.
Korjak read through it and said, “This says you were only sent to, ‘render assistance,’ not take charge. And it says that you’re a corporal. I’m a sergeant. I outrank you. What were you trying to pull here?”
Demetrius looked at his feet. “Apologies sir. I’m a bit of a braggart at times.”
“Well, not to worry. We aren’t as official with rank out here anyways. Let me introduce you to the two new faces. This is Reggy and Tory.” Korjak indicated the two men. “Reggy is a freed slave who has chosen to continue accompanying us. Tory is our guide through the jungle and the mountains around here.”
Demetrius shook their hands and they got to know each other. The group bought the rest of their potions and got the last bit of supplies they’d need before making the climb into the mountains.

A Bird Above the Rest

The climb went smoothly as the party had prepared so well and had Tory as an excellent guide. He led them on easy paths that took them higher and higher by the hour. When it came time to sleep for the night they were close to a cave. Tory pointed it out and they went inside. A little bit of exploring revealed that the cave had no back wall. It just kept going and going into the side of the mountain.

Wanting to ensure safety while they slept, Korjak lit some torches and led the way into the cave. The journey took them deeper and deeper and the cave began to slope downwards. It was clear that this was some sort of entrance into the Underdark. Not wanting to chance any encounters with Drow or other creatures, the party left the cave and camped outside in the rain. Tory gave them what tips he could for keeping dry in the rain, but by morning everyone was soaked and miserable.

The next day while hiking up the wide mountain path, a shadow passed over the party. Everyone looked up and saw a gigantic bird circling around the party.
Gregor asked, “Is that a condor?”
Tory’s eyes went wide. “No! It’s a roc!”
Korjak shouted, “Take cover!”
“It’s too late it’s already seen us and there’s nowhere to hide around here,” said Tory.
Korjak ordered, “Loose one of the goats! Maybe it will only want to feed on one.”

The party quickly stripped the equipment off of one goat as the roc circled lower and lower. They prodded the goat away from the party to act as bait. The roc swooped down and landed upon the goat. It crushed the bleating animal in its talons and lifted it to its beak to be devoured in a single bite. The roc fixed its white eyes on the party and began to advance.

“Oh gods,” said Tory. He backed away, holding on to the leashes of the other goats. The rest of the party prepared to engage if the roc kept advancing. The bird came forward and the fight was on.

Korjak pulled out his bow and shot an arrow into the neck of the roc. The arrow burrowed deep and the roc shrieked in response. Gregor ran in to fight it toe to toe. Sivirdm hid behind a rock and fired at the roc’s vulnerable underbelly with his crossbow. Reggy took shots at it with his crossbow as well. Stanton hid behind a rock as well and cast blinding color surge to stop the roc’s advance. Demetrius summoned his horse and mounted up.

The roc faltered a little bit. Stanton, suspecting an opening, cast vertigo on the roc, giving it the unsettling feeling that it was falling.

The roc recovered its vision and bit into Gregor. The bird lifted him up in its giant beak. Korjak, Sivirdm, and Reggy continued their missile barrage. Demetrius charged by on his horse, jumping just in time to dodge the roc’s talon. His leveled lance scrapped deeply into the roc’s side. Tory continued to pull the goats further away and keep them under control.

Stanton, wanting to free Gregor, cast a color spray up at the roc’s face. The colors stunned both Gregor and the roc. The bird dropped Gregor roughly to the ground. Stanton kept the display of colors up, successfully distracting the roc from the mortal peril it was in. The party cut it up with various attacks until Gregor decapitated the beast.

Tory handed the goats off to Reggy and came to investigate the roc. “I’ve never heard of a roc having a beak that big. Most of them are only about sixteen inches long, but this one must be two feet. Impressive.”
Gregor said, “Sounds like we should take some trophies.” The party stripped what they wanted which included the talons, some gigantic feathers, and the already decapitated head.