Session 9 - Chapter 4 - Continuing to Elturel

Hello and Welcome!

The Bandit Ambush over the night was challenging. Torsion grumbled to himself that they had not pressed harder on the "Merchant" than he had to get the truth. Dafnae and Chard tended to the fallen Bandits and moved their bodies off the main road and into the underbrush so as to not impede other legitimate caravans travelling the road, or attract the eyes of marching soldiers, or even wet the appetite of some foul beast looking for an easy meal (or worse!) and collected their belongings that had value - no sense in leaving it on them and likely it wasn't even theirs in the first place.

Pipp was still exhilarated from her first taste of combat. In part she was angry with herself for believing the the Bandit Captain. This would serve as a valuable lesson for her - not everyone is to be trusted. But how could he be like that? Did he not know of the bigger peril risking everyone's lives? And simultaneously she enjoyed the excitement and thrill of using her skills and spells to make an impact (she hoped the other three were proud of her - and she hoped they would eventually have an opportunity to see Master Hedare again so he could be proud of her as well). A smile did cross her lips when she remembered how she was able to take out the last feeling cowardly Bandit in the dark with her sling - the crack of her pebble against the back of his head and the thud with which he hit the ground was very satisfying. Oh and she did envy the others' Darkvision! She'll need to remember to write a verse in one of her next ballads about that specifically.

Once the coinage was dispersed, Dafnae took a longer look at the intricate lockbox that they found on the Bandit Captain. And what of the emblem they found. Did this mean that this was not a random ambush but rather the Cult was somehow targeting them? Did Talis know she was looking for her?

Eventually she was able to decipher the code on the mechanism. It was a 6 letter word in the Common tongue - DRAGON. Fitting she thought. Inside were two rings - one gold, one silver. Each had Elvish Runes on them. One read Luck while the other read Grace. They sense magic coming from them (Transmutation in fact). 

They decided that they would resume their long rest and Chard and Torsion would take first watch. During the watch, they took turns, each studying one of the rings. Luckily the evening passed without incident and they were able to determine that one ring was a Ring of Elven Grace (which granted +1 to Dexterity and increased movement to 35) and the other was a Ring of Elven Luck (which grants has 3 charges of being able to re-roll an attack roll / saving roll / ability check per turn, with 1 charge being restored each day at dawn). These would come in handy the agreed.

They swapped shifts with Pipp and Dafnae so the others could get their rest as well. The two keeping watch chatted with each other. Dafnae wanted to make sure that Pipp was ok after the ordeal (she took the first big hit when the deception was revealed). And Dafnae told Pipp that she was quite impressed with how she handled herself and her skills would be useful. Pipp did her best to hide it, but she was so happy to hear this from someone who had already seen much more adventuring than herself that she felt like she could burst. They continued chatting and agreed that Torsion should take the Ring of Grace and Chard should take the Ring of Luck. Again, there was no further incident. The two shared a laugh though remarking that it was a surprise nothing else found them during the night given Torsion's loud snoring (Pipp wondered if all Dwarves snored). Chard seemed to have a very restless sleep, perhaps he was bothered by the snoring as well Dafnae thought. Pipp did quietly notice Chard's trouble sleeping as well and she thought amongst the murmurings and snoring she heard him say "Avernus" but she was not sure. She didn't want to pry Dafnae just yet as she wanted to check with Chard first.

As daybreak came, the two keeping watch started to slowly tend to the horses and prepare breakfast while the others finished their rest. They arose too late morning and they made final preparations, Torsion and Pipp managed to find some fresh water to refill the waterskins and found some food, saddled up, and set off towards Elturel but not before Torsion and Chard attuned to the new Magical Items.

The weather was pleasant, a little warmer than the day before but it made for good riding. They made good progress, now the road branching away slightly from the main river. They made camp again and kept to the same routine of keeping watch. This time in the night they noticed some shadowy figures in the distance around the camp that looked to be some sort of beast ranging in size from small to as tall as an average human. There were no special sounds or anything and while keeping  a keen eye, the figures did not advance on the campsite. In the morning while the horses were being prepared to depart, Dafnae and Chard ventured out to take a look and all they could see were hooved tracks but no other sign of what the beasts could have been. Torsion and Pipp managed to forage some more fresh water once the other two returned. Afterwards they set off for the day's ride again.

The road started to gently angle away from the river as it started to arc towards Elturel. Just after midday though Torsion noticed some sound on the wind which sounded like clanging metal but wasn't sure. The Party agreed to continue their approach carefully. 

As they move forward, they eventually all were able to hear the noises which definitely were the sounds of battle - the clang of metal on metal, the cries of men, the sense of urgency. The four decided to carefully tie the horses up off the road in a protected area and approach the sound from the underbrush - they didn't want to approach the unknown encounter directly from the main road.

Once they traversed the final 200 yards they saw a crop of the remains of buildings which were ruined long ago and they peered around and saw what was making the noise. A trio of Ogres were attacking the guards of what appeared to be part of a merchant caravan. The guardsmen were not fairing well, several had already fallen. Atop one of the wagons was an Elven woman dressed in what looked like finery (she must be the Merchant). The four Heroes decided to intervene and try to save who they could and dispatch the Ogres. As they were about to start their advance, the last Guardsmen fell. The four began their plan of attack and rolled new Initiatives.

Dafnae and Pipp decided to peel off to another set of ruins and to target the Ogre by himself which was advancing to the Merchant Elf who was on the Wagon while Chard and Torsion advanced to engage the two Ogres that just felled the last Guardsmen and were closer to their position. 

The plan worked and the one Ogre diverted his attention to the Dafnae and Pipp while a fierce combat ensued between Chard and Torsion and the other two Ogres. 

With some well placed spells of Dissonant Whispers and Magic Missile, Dafnae and Pipp were able to deal heavy damage to the one Ogre. Meanwhile the other two Ogres landed some heavy blows to Chard and Torsion but they were hitting back hard as well. 

Dafnae eventually was able to land a good Hand Crossbow shot against one of the heavily damaged Ogres that pierced its heart and it came crashing down with a loud scream. Pipp then managed to user her sling with another trust pebble to hit the other bloodied Ogre squarely between the eyes with a loud *CRACK* which caused it to suddenly roll its eyes into the back of its head and fall directly backwards onto the ground, dead. Chard with a flurry then managed to step up onto one of the fallen Ogres and landing the killing blow with a flourish against the final Ogre with a deep cut in its side with his Glaive.

But the threat was not over. Unbeknownst to the brave Adventurers, a party of Orcs were advancing on them. While the four were pre-occupied by the Ogres, the Orcs were climbing over the cliff on the other side of the ruins and quickly advancing.

The Orcs were very Aggressive and advanced quickly and so the battle raged on. Torsion and Chard did briefly fall but thanks to healing by Pipp and Torsion they were restored to continue the fight. The close proximity attack style allowed for effective use of Burning Hands and Thunderwave to take out a few Orcs at once - the ones hit by Burning Hands were scorched to a crisp and set some of the damaged Wagons alight while the ones hit with Thunderwave took heavy concussive damage which crushed their skulls.  

Two of the Orcs peeled off from the fray to try to kidnap the Elveen Merchant but as the last of the skirmishing Orcs well, the four were able to vanquish the last two as well and prevent them from carrying her away.

Once the battle was finished, they learned that her name was Ariel and she was a on her way to Berdusk with fine silks and spices when they were suddenly ambushed. She was grateful for the help. While they continued the discussion they gathered what valuables they could find. The only valuables on the Orcs were coinage. The Ogres had various random items, some of which could perhaps fetch some coinage in Elturel. The Orcs and Ogres were gathered up into one of the ruins and together with their Great Axes and Clubs which were in poor condition were made into a Funeral Pyre. Chard explained to Pipp that this was necessary as the stench of burning Orc would drive away any other potential attacker for the short term. 

The remains of the Guardsmen were carefully moved into the forest with a makeshift burial and Torsion gave a prayer over them. Their chainmail shirts and longswords were collected as these were still in mostly good condition and Torsion thought they could be useful for the militia in Elturel. 

Dafnae and Chard went to collect the horses while Pipp used her Mending Cantrip to repair one of the Wagons which would give them two functional wagons. They discussed with Ariel that the safest thing to do would be for her to accompany them back to Elturel with whatever goods that they could salvage in the two Wagons and then she could regroup her plans from there. Ariel was grateful for the help and Dafnae and her exchanged an Elvish blessing in gratitude. Ariel said that she would give them a reward once in Elturel for saving her life.

Pipp was intrigued by this event and thought to herself that Adventuring was quite tricky. One always needs to be open to any eventuality. Just in a few short days they had encountered two different so called Merchants, but only one was really one. Anything can happen!

Once all ready, they resumed the journey and made camp. The next day they should arrive in Elturel. Torsion was very eager to meet with Onthar at last.

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It was another fun session with an engaging and dynamic main encounter and the Party now has two Homebrew magical items which will definitely come in handy. Torsion got the +1 to DEX so that he could get the small boost to get him enough to get the +1 to his Modifier. Every bit helps. As they level up, they may swap them around.

And its been fun to use a combination of maps and miniatures. Some pictures below of the main encounter.

Looking forward to reaching Elturel (hopefully!) in the next session!

Happy continued painting and gaming!

-Pete (& Mitz & Simz)