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Saturday, November 26, 2016

Session Report 2016-09-23 by Roland Red Oak

September 23, 2016 – The Journal of Roland Red Oak

About a month after the Dragonborn Karn brought me the documents the group had found in the Mount of the Red Door, I was approached by Draven with a new group, who had decided to enter the Mount to explore and treasure hunt. Draven explained that he and his new friends had entered the Mount recently and had some curious adventures; including running into a pair of talking ghouls. They were looking to continue their exploration and needed a healer, I joined without hesitation.

The new group consisted of; my good friend Dravin Stormblood the hammer wielding dwarven mage, Cathar Lavemion a lightning quick wood elf monk, Nevus Jorandel a half-elf paladin, Halitrax Ungart a stout dwarven fighter, Zanyk a rather angry gnome barbarian, and myself Roland.

Early in the morning our group convened at a local tavern for breakfast and then we headed to the Mount. We returned to the third level that they had left behind earlier and made our way to a Temple of Midas in search of forces from resurgent Sullian
Empire! I was most excited to meet these fellows as I have only ever read about them, however we found no traces of them and that temple had not changed from their previous encounter (much to my disappointment). We then moved onto the room where the group had found a portal that allowed the Sullian’s to travel to the Mount, finding the portal closed.

The group decided to move onto room where they had encountered a bugbear and a red elf army (oh my, so exciting!) Finding nothing of value we moved onto the next room, once again finding dust. Sitting in the middle of the Eastern wall of the room, sat a door with a glass circle, ½ black and ½ white. After a quick inspection from Draven found not arcane significance in the sigil, we decided to enter the room. Inside we found a series of stone steps leading to a dais, and sitting on top was a large archway. The steps, the dais, and the archway were all constructed from some beautiful blue stone that was covered in some indecipherable flowing silver ruins. All in all, the room was quite striking. As I admired the beauty of this strange room, my attention was quickly brought to the two red elves sitting across the room under the arch, surrounded by multiple large abominations that could only have arisen from the pits of some hell. The beasts had four spindly legs that ended in three sharp claws, scrawny bodies covered in molted fur, and oblong heads whose jaws opened up like some flower from the fever dreams of a madman. Nevus attempted to parlay with red elves, too little or no affect, battle was joined.

Combat – The elves immediately cast magic missile at Zanyk blasting the poor gnome with an entire host of missiles, staggering the poor gnome. The creatures rushed at the dwarf covering the space between them in quick, awkward strides. Luckily Halitrax was ready and their attacks banged off his shield harmlessly. Zanyk erupted into a rage and struck one the beasts attacking Halitrax in the face, sinking his battle axe deep into the monster’s muzzle. Halitrax responded to the beast’s attacks and crushed the beast in front of him with two heavy blows to the body with his mighty war hammer, wounding and angering the creature.  Dravin cast flaming sphere behind the front line of creatures attacking our fighters and slammed it into the beast, causing howls of pain. I called upon Desonia and cast healing word upon Zanyk, closing some of his several wounds.

With a mighty bellow full of dwarven curses, Halitrax brought his hammer down upon the of the wounded beast in front of him splattering floor with brain and blood, killing the monster. Again the Red Elves blasted the poor barbarian with Magic Missile, doing horrible wounds to the brave warrior. (At this point I am not sure why, but the elves seemed to hate the gnome).  Zanyk, unable to reach his tormentors, took his frustrations out upon the beast blocking his way by wounding the creature deeply. Again the beasts charged the dwarven warrior, finally breaking through his defenses and scratching wounds deep into his side. Cathar took careful aim with his bow and fired arrows into the frontline beasts, landing solid hits on one of them. I called upon the might of Desonia and cast Hold Person upon the elves, freezing them in place and hopefully buying Zanyk a reprieve from their spells. Nevus unable to make it into combat cast bless upon our frontline warriors, bringing the favor of Desonia into the battle. Dravin cast Magic Missile at the elves, blasting the villains with force damage, wounding them.

The front line beasts turned on Zanyk and he was clawed horribly, opening three long deep red lines upon his chest. Nevus laid hands upon the wounded barbarian, stopping his bleeding and mending some of his wounds. Dravin rammed one of the beasts with the flame sphere, causing it to howl in pain as it burst into flames. The beast slowly collapsed into a heap of stinking burning flesh, dying a painful death. I have never seen anything move as gracefully as Cathar, he danced his way to the front of the group and attacked one of the lead monsters. He unleashed a series of devastating blows with his quarterstaff, breaking the monster’s arm so bad that the limb was torn from its body, killing the creature and dropping it in a puddle of blood. After Cathar cleared a path to the elves, Halitrax took advantage of the opening, and rushed to the back of the room. He began screaming a litany of dwarven curses as he smashed his hammer into the paralyzed elf with brutal force, causing horrible internal injuries. Zanyk, seeing a path to the elves, ignored all obstacles in his path a raced to the rear of the room. He roared in rage as he delivered two devastating blows to the paralyzed elves.

Somehow, after this last attack the elves were able to shake off my spell, they cast a spell and vanished from view, denying Zanyk his bloody retribution. Nevus, finally with a clear path to the action, rushed to his allies’ defense and attacked the beasts from behind, driving his great axe deep into the creature’s spine, causing it to howl in rage and pain. Cathar carefully positioned himself between two of the beasts and utilizing a combination of his staff, feet, hands, and head delivered a whirlwind of blows to the nearest beast. Pummeling the creature to death, finishing it off with backhand that knocked the spittle from the dead monster’s mouth.

Suddenly the elves appeared at the back of the room and cast magic missile at Dravin, deeply wounding the mage. Dravin howling in rage and pain, spun around and cast magic missile at one of the elves, connecting, and causing the elf to flinch. Halitrax, seeing his fellow dwarf getting attacked from behind rushed to his aid and smote one of the wounded elves with a viscous swing of his hammer. I aided the wounded dwarven mage with a cure light wounds, healing some of his damage. The creatures meanwhile attacked Cathar, drawing long scratches on the monk’s arm. Nevus drove his great axe into the skull of a creature he had been battling, killing the beast. He turned and rushed to join Halitrax in attacking the elves, wounding one of them with his axe. I turned on one of the beasts and cast Poison Spray, causing the monster to die in a choking agony. After trading blows with Halitrax and Nevus, the elves once again disappeared. After several tense minutes of waiting, the elves did not return.

Kills – Halitrax I, Dravin I, Cathar II, Nevus I, Roland I

After the battle I tended to the wounds of our brave band, using my healing kit. We decided to head into the adjacent room and took an hour or so to catch our breath and prepare for additional exploration. After a brief discussion the paladin, Nevus, convinced the group that we had unfinished business with the ghouls. We decided to head to the north and eliminate the them, the group informed me that there were anywhere between 7 or 8 non-intelligent, normal ghouls and two intelligent ghoul leaders. As we entered the room with the two intelligent ghouls we saw that they were having tea, we asked about the elf and we were informed that he was mostly intact in the other room. Halitrax asked to see the elf, one of the ghouls went and grabbed the elf who was missing his left arm. The ghoul’s ushered us to the table for tea and as the group took our seats, Nevus yelled, “In the name of Desornia!” and swung his axe into the ghoul, smiting the undead monster with the holy wrath of his god. Battle broke out in the middle of a tea party.

Combat – Nevus’s plan worked to perfection, catching the ghouls completely by surprise and delivering two crushing blows to the ghoul closest to him. Halitrax, casually took a sip of the tea, set the cup on the saucer and proceeded to deliver a series of heavy blows to the ghoul closest to him. Zanyk, still gun shy from the previous battle with the elves began muttering curses under his breath about smelly, no good elves and missed both attacks on the ghoul closest to him. After getting over their initial shock the ghouls immediately began attacking the paladin. The paladin caught a diseased claw, causing Nevus to immediately become ill. Halitrax battle lust came upon him as he delivered a multitude of blows to the ghoul, splattering a caustic gore all over himself and Zanyk, burning their flesh and causing both to yelp in pain.  Halitrax then jumped on the table and smashed the china set into a million pieces. Nevus, continued to wretch and cough, unable to move. However, he was able to call upon his god for aid and blessed the fighters of the group, in between retching. As the battle continued the elf began to run directly at me, seeing a possible attacker, I ran him through with my spear. Putting the elf out of the fight. Cathar with amazing grace and power, delivered a multitude of powerful blows to the ghoul.

The remaining ghoul turned on Cathar, who expertly danced out of the way of the claw attacks. Zanyk, seeing the elf run out of the corner of his eye, turned to rush after and left himself open to attack and took a horrible double claw attack to the back. Instantly causing the gnome to wretch and stop in place. Dravin cast Witchbolt upon the remaining ghoul, blasting the beast with lightning. Nevus, still coughing and hacking attempted to throw a chair at the monster and missed. The chair exploded on the wall behind him. Zanyk once again striking with force, delivered multiple blows to the creature. Halitrax, laughing hysterically about finally looking someone in the eye as he swings away at the ghoul from the table, landed several blows. The ghoul, retaliated with a viscous swipe of the claws, causing the him to wretch and vomit. Once again, Nevus chucked another chair wide of the ghoul, smashing it into pieces. Dravin continued his electrical attack on the ghoul, shocking the monster. I cast poison spray on the monster, which shrugged off the spell to no effect. Zanyk landed two solid blows that splattered the ghoul across the room, covering the monk, barbarian, and fighter in gore.

Kills – Halitrax I, Roland I, Zanyk I

After the conclusion of the battle the group decided we need to recover from the brutal battle. We found that somehow the elf had survived a spear to the gut and was still alive. Zanyk bound the him but not before giving him a savage kick to the ribs. During our recovery, the ghouls outside began pounding upon the door to the West attempting to enter the room. While resting Dravin came across a wooden chest that contained a king’s ransom in gold and jewelry. I searched through the library in the room, they contained works of fiction written in High Sullian. We found no books of value.

The group discussed what to do with the elf prisoner, after much debate we decided to turn the elf over to the Karlsburg officials for interrogation. The group is concerned that a war between the Sullians and the Red Elves is brewing in the mount. We moved the elf into the room adjacent to the tea room, bound in a chair, and gagged. Despite the vigorous objections from the barbarian who desired the death of the elf.

The group decided that we needed to take out the ghouls who have been beating on the door to the west after we finally reached our decision on the prisoner.

Combat – Zanyk threw the door open and looked into the face of a decaying ghoul and slashed the ghoul twice with his battle axe. Halitrax delivered a couple of crushing blows with his war hammer, splattering the ghoul’s brains across the floor, killing it. Cathar fired his bow into the undead monster in the right eye and out the monster’s skull, killing it instantly. Nevus, rushed to the front of the battle, hopping the gnome and delivering a skull splitting blow the lead ghoul’s head. The ghoul died without knowing what hit it. Cathar once again danced to the front of the group and delivered a series of quick, crushing blows to the final ghoul. The ghoul died horribly and a rain of blows from his staff. The group tracked down the remaining ghouls and ended them as well.

Kills – Halitrax II, Cathar II, Nevus I, Zanyk II

After killing the remaining ghoul’s, the group collected our prisoner and headed to Karlsburg. Before we left, the wizard collected the tongues from the ghouls as a trophy for Quasi. After reaching town, I had to leave the group as an immediate issue with my congregation was brought to my attention. I wished the group well and went to help the family.

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