Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Garham to Greyhawk Campaign: Session Four

Garham to Greyhawk Campaign
Session Four – May 29, 2010 (Flocktime 4, 610)
Cast
Flex, human (mixed race) shield-bearer (1st level fighter)(Ruben)
Rex2, human (mixed race) medium (1st-level magic-user)(Pablo) – deceased
Rex3, human (mixed race) medium (1st-level magic-user)(Pablo)
Setch, human (mixed race) medium (1st-level magic-user)(Tyler)

The company had fled back into the Roaring Wolf Caverns to flee the ambush in the ravine that had left fully half of the non-halfling ranks unconscious. There they stayed, resting in the cleared-out caves until everyone still alive (since Rex was dead) regained consciousness. They began exploring again to find another way out and encountered green slime – one of the Halflings was nearly killed by it. They also found nine goblins left in the caves, but after a short battle five of the goblins were dead and the other four surrendered. From their prisoners, the company learned of a “back door” to the caves and used it to make their way back to Garham.

It was the 4th of Flocktime when the paladin Lilyana Ortiz returned to Garham on her pegasus, as she had promised. If she approved of the company’s story of their adventure, she had promised to sponsor them in the Adventurers Guild of Greyhawk. She heard the company’s story of adventure, but judged that it was too soon to say the story was done. Most of the company agreed to stay and see the bugbear menace through to the end. Indeed, it seemed it would not take long to encounter them again, as they had staged a daring raid on a wagon train bearing silver ore from the mines not long after the company returned to Garham to recooperate.

But Flex’s new recruits, Seth’s brother Setch and Rex’s brother Rex2, had a different plan. They vowed to reach the high priests in the City of Yggsburgh and undertake a quest in exchange for Rex being brought back to life. For that, they needed (or thought they needed) robes to hide Flex’s armor and horses for the journey.

It was the 5th of Flocktime when Flex took the new recruits, Setch and Rex2, to the marketplace to buy horses and robes. Buying used robes from a used clothes seller was easy, but no horse merchant came to market this day. The three companions went to Lance's Stables to buy horses. Lance was rude first, but the companions became so belligerent that Lance called for three stablehands for back-up and, when the companions would still not back down, whistled for the militia. Setch immediately changed sides and ran to find the militiamen, but Rex2's sleep spell evened the odds when it put everyone but him and Lance to sleep. Rex2 tried kicking and stabbing Lance, then woke up Flex. Lance knocked out Rex2 with a blow to the back of the head, but was then impaled on Flex's sword. Setch returned with five militiamen just in time to see Flex throw Rex2 on the back of a horse and ride off bareback (luckily, Flex was good at riding) through the back door of the stable. Three militiamen gave chase while two stayed behind to guard the scene of the crime. A pursuing militiaman hit Flex with a sling bullet and seriously injured him, but Flex managed to stay riding. Meanwhile, Setch cast his own sleep spell on the two remaining guards, saddled up a pony, and rode off through the front doors to the stable.

After several hours of riding back and forth south of town before meeting up with each other, the three criminal refugees agreed to ride straight away for the City of Yggsburgh and complete their intended quest. They met a sextet of performers on the road with two carts, bound for Garham, and paid them 2 gp to turn around and travel with the three criminals instead. They considered flagging down a river barge for faster travel, but not when they considered how much it might cost and how little money they had left. The carts full of performers and pretend-performers next met a giant otter that emerged on the side of the road and actually spoke to them. The conversation was short, ending in the otter warning them that no good would come of evil, but the criminals ignored it and rode on. At nightfall, they came to a small merchant wagon train camping north of the village of Urtford. Rather than press on to the village, the criminals accepted the merchants' offer to camp with them and learned that these were oat merchants – a handy source of food for their stolen steeds.

The next morning the three rogues went into the village's tavern for breakfast and restocking their supply of dried foodstuffs. Setch and Rex2 were considering seeing if they could get drunk on ale when four men and a women burst into the tavern and announced they were highwaymen intent on robbing the establishment (having mistaken the rogues for being the merchants). Once again, Rex2 put everyone to sleep (including the tavern attendants) except for himself and one opponent. Rex2 woke up Setch just before the remaining highwaymen killed Rex2 with a morning star. Setch avenged Rex2 by putting the remaining highwayman to sleep and killed all five of them in their sleep. Then he woke up Flex and they stripped the highwaymen of their belongings, finding them richer than any foes they had fought to date – even finding a new spellbook! Flex and Setch split the treasure between them. Then they pinched a barrel of beer from the tavern for good measure, convincing the merchants outside that they had bought in on sale inside.

Rex2, they brought out dead and explained it away as natural causes. But this did present a quandry for them – they were heading to Yggsburgh to have Rex resurrected and now Rex2 was in need of resurrection! At least their numbers were replenished when a young man from the village spotted Rex2's body and cried over his deceased father! The young man was, curiously, named Rex3 and agreed to not only complete his father's quest for his uncle, but vowed to undertake a second to bring back his dad.

The second day of travel on the road was long and hard, but free of diversions. By the end of the 6th , the rogues had reached the gates of the City of Yggsburgh. The next morning, when they were allowed entrance, they went straight to the temples. Setch chose the Temple of Boccob. They told their wishes to a priest there and he left them alone while he conferred with the other priests. Later in the day, the priest came back to them with a quest to undertake. If the rogues went to the salt mines in the Serpent Ridge and broke the altar of an evil god there, the priests of Boccob would bring Rex back from the dead. But here Setch betrayed them again, refusing the quest and offering to trade his old spellbook for just one new spell from the Boccobites. Flex and Rex3, feeling they did not have the strength to take on the quest with a company of two, settled down in the city for a time while Setch studied under the Boccobites.
((Ending XP))
Setch – 721
Flex – 891
Rex3 - 445

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