DnD
Episode 12 - Termalaine
Having arrived at the Eastside Inn, our band of four made their way inside, shaking off the cold and stomping off the snow from their boots to settle by the warmth of the fire.
The owner of the establishment, a young human girl named Marta offered a table close by the fire. The Inn was cosy and as Marta went about pouring drinks and serving guests she would sing to herself:
"Ahead of winter’s wind she came,
The lovely woman with no name;
Draped in a fur-lined cloak of red,
To the icy lake she fled;
The wind pursued her all the same,
As sure as night she’s dead."
Our party were not the only newcomers listening to the sweet sound of Marta's singing. The adjacent table was occupied by 2 well dressed characters who looked out of place among the usual travellers, fishers and trappers. They introduced themselves as Halfdan (human male) Paladin of Tyr and his companion Nemeia (female Teifling) Cleric of Ilmater. The tables conversed as they ate lunch, Aldrick and Halfdan speaking at length about Aldrick's mission and their recent encounters since arriving in the Ten Towns. Halfdan and Nemeia had arrived in Termalaine a fews days previous.
Attention was turned to Marta and her song. Marta recounted a tale that fifty years ago, a woman stopped at the Eastside. Marta’s grandparents looked after her. The woman gave them a ring as payment for their hospitality. Not long afterward, a howling wind burst into the Inn before chasing the mysterious women away. That was the last anyone saw of the woman. Aldrick remarked how the tale reminded him of an encounter with a ghost in Easthaven. Marta wore the ring the lady gave her grandparents around her neck. She took it off and showed it to Aldrick. It didn't have a crest but was most unusually decorated. Learning of our group's heroic deeds throughout the other towns Marta offered it up as a gift. Furthermore she imparted news that stocks of honey mead from Goodmead were running low as shipments had been disrupted somehow.
Aldrick and Halfdan discussed the recent troubles in the Termalaine mine and agreed that with their combined skills and increased numbers that they would seek out the town speaker and offer their services if required. And so they finished their meals and drinks and set off to the town hall to seek out Speaker Oarus Masthew. With no answer at the town hall our now larger party of six made for the The Blue Clam Tavern. After conversing with the speaker he alluded to the fact that there were issues with the town militia and their reluctance to enter the mine following recent deaths. It seemed there could be more than mere Kobolds to worry about.
Making their way out of town following the trail towards the mine our party of 6 donned their shields and armour, readied their weapons and cast a few protective spells in preparation of the upcoming encounter. Upon reaching the entrance of the mine their was a crudely scrawled sign in common that read "Kobolds Only, Keep Out!"
With the dark tunnel ahead of them, Aldrick cast dancing lights to provide some illumination to the entrance tunnel. It was enough to enable those without darkvision to see that the tunnel opened up and forked in different directions. Wasting no time Halfdan gripped his longsword and shield firmly and pushed forward into the mines. The rest followed tentatively behind this stalwart warrior. Seeing that the mine split off into various tunnels the group of six split into two parties. Halfdan, Aldrick and Shayde continued straight ahead while Grom, Tor and Nemeia took the left fork. Tor casting Darkvision on herself while Aldrick commanded his light globes to float in a line spread out to illuminate a forty foot section of tunnel each time they crept further forward. Soon the sound of rushing water became loud enough to drown out the sound of one group from the other.
Surprise! Roll initiative. Kobolds started to attack from the darkness with their javelins.
After their surprise round a number of Kobolds quickly lost their heads to Grom's axe and Nemeia's sword. After 4:had been quickly dispatched the remaining 2 fled through a nearby door. Tor started to hear a strange clicking noise but was unable to determine what it was coming from until suddenly a creature emerged from a dark corner where it had been camouflaged against the rock. With a slithering snake like body, a face full of tentacles and beak like a vulture the creature slithered forward to attack.
Tor reached into her grey bag of tricks, pulled out a fury ball that transformed into a panther on landing and proceeded to attack this weird monstrosity.
Meanwhile, Aldrick, Shayde and Halfdan were assailed by 2 more of these strange creatures. Halfdan stood his ground attacking with his longsword, enhancing his blows with Divine Smite. Shayde darted back and forth stabbing with her short swords before disengaging to withdraw safely. Suffering from bad dice roles Aldrick's spells missed their targets so instead he cast magic weapon on Shayde's sword as their attacks were not striking as hoped.
Thinking that they had overcome these vicious foes, anothet one had slithered up out of a deep chasm, it's sounds disguised by the crashing of the waterfall that cascaded over the chasm edge.
Halfdan having soaked up a lot of hits used his pool of healing magic from Lay on Hands to heal himself. Aldrick cast message to communicate with Grom and tell them that they were besieged by numerous creatures and to come quickly if they could.
With a second smite and some good sneak attack damage Halfdan and Shayde managed to dispatch the Gricks while Grom did the same with his trusty great axe.
And so this episode drew to a close with our heroes and their new allies. Hopefully our heroes will have a chance to regroup before continuing their exploration of this mine complex.............
The photos above show the scale of the mine complex that Pete has been able to recreate using "Dungeon Blocks". These awesome 3D terrain pieces are brilliant and really bring a superior dynamic to our sessions. As Pete prints more and more of these from the various different sets we are now able to build extensive encounters which are soon much more than the 2D maps we first started using. They are fantastic and I would heartily recommend using them in any campaign.
And lastly we would like to celebrate the return of our friend Stu and the creation of his two new characters Halfdan and Nemeia and the hopes that they will all be regular inclusions in our ongoing adventure in the frozen north.
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