The Wrath – Event 4: Boys of Winter!

Date: 05/20/20

Location: Virtual 06:30 PM EST  11:00 PM

Club: WARP – Established 1976

Guild: VARP – Established 7.04.78 Vermont Association of Role Players

GARP – Established 3.15.18 GaryCon Association of Role Players

Summary: The party realizes that they are in trouble as they see a troop gnolls heading for them as they emerge from the tunnel into the sunlight. Lenore’ the raven warns of danger and Al sees  3 larger than normal gnolls behaving like rangers leading a pack of 15 gnolls from a pavilion across the lake.  A robed and hooded gnoll ? along with a larger gnoll leader trail the group.  Acting swiftly the party ducks back into the tunnels, cursing their luck.

Various plans are offered back and forth, should we hide, lead the gnolls astray into the lair of the insect creatures, or set an ambush.  Al offers a plan for ambush and the party quickly goes into action.  The party feels more confident in themselves and each other and hardens their minds to grim determination.

Marsalis and Marric hide by the ledge waiting for gnolls to enter the cavern and Ertimei applies the oil of slipperiness to the ground at the base of the passage where it enters the large cavern.  Al hops into an empty minecart and draws his tent over himself to hide his torch light while he carefully reads his spell book feeling that he can recast another spell if he has enough time.

A rumble of a mine cart is heard from the south! Dolmir,  Brazz, Cyrus and Ertimei investigate moving to the south to assess the new threat. Ertimei hears a goblin muttering ‘I can’t believe we have to do this, we are going to be overwhelmed but we will show them’ and a muzzled growl.  A ragged goblin with a sling and giant horn, and a backbrace holding a short sword, pushing a mining cart containing a giant armored warg eating something appears.  Arrows fly at the goblin, and the warg reacts by grabbing him in its mouth and trying to retreat back down the corridor but Eli manages to sly the goblin who drops the horn as the warg disappears back to the south.  Brazz boldly grabs the horn and the party waits in tense silence.

Marric hears ‘I can’t believe it, can you hear ? You are an idiot, track it?’from the north tunnel to the surface as three gnoll scouts carrying glowing beetles and armed with spears and hooks appear, a line of 6 centurion gnolls filing behind them.  The ambush is sprung and the oil of slipperiness lives up to its name, as the scouts and the first centurian slip and fall leaving themselves easy targets to the party. Cryus, Ertimei, Brazz, Dolmir attack, Marric backstabs a centurion with his new ivory dagger.  The fallen gnolls are made quick work in the ambush.  Then Eli uses a beetle as an improved weapon and bats it to the centurion gnolls in the tunnel who continue forward.  Brazz also repeats the action using a beetle as an improvised weapon. The next two centurian gnolls attempt to throw a net at the party but they are peppered with arrows, fail morale and start to flee back up the tunnel.

As Al peeks his head from the minecart with his spell settling in his mind, he sees the fleeing gnolls and quickly casts a spell before they escape out of range.  Silence falls where there was once sounds of battle. Marsalis and Marric leap down from the ledge and quietly investigate up the hall.  Al grabs his tent, lays it over the fallen bodies and the rest of the party moves up into the tunnel where they find 6 total sleeping gnolls and a sleeping beetle.  Taking one captive, the rest are slain.  Al and Ertimei vivisect beetles for spell components.

Ertimei interrogates the gnoll ‘Why were you here ?‘; it hisses and spits and says ‘No chance of your lives surviving, T’call is waiting for you, your mabden will not protect you‘.  Ertimei throws the captured scout in the pit and the rest of the bodies are thrown in the pit and Ertimei throws the captured scout in the pit.  Dolmir hears the caw of Lenore from the hallway where the mercenaries were, there is a buzzing in the vent, bird lands on Ertimei and looks happy, bright yellow on beak, symbols under wings are extensive but hard to know.

Marsalis and Eli will sneak up and look at the entrance, Eli determines his infravision is receding by the minute (heat sense is failing), two figures are barely discernible, their bottom looks like sand, midrange looks like fends, top looks like sky. The gnolls sized figures are rolling a ball of mud and snow into a shape, the scouts retreat back and inform the party.  Magic is involved and the party is wary.

Dolimir and Ertemi both start praying for spells as the party debates what to do.  Al used spellcraft on two potions and the dwarven ring he found on the slain captive.  One potion smells of raspberries is a bright red liquid (tasting it, Al felt refreshed),the other potion is grass greenish with whirls of black fleck (tasting it, Al felt a mental effect but it faded too quickly, and the ring dwarvish glyphs (well made), showed magic runes under the hooded torch of true sight.  Al puts the dwarven ring on his left hand but feels no different.

Marric starts to sling stones at the captive in the pit as Brazz pees on him. The end is mercifully quick.

Suddenly a high howling from the south is heard and then a gurgles for a few seconds then silence. Brazz kicks a cart down the rails towards the noise, the cart stops, and he shines the torch as he sees two apis (8′ tall with multiple limbs, with multiple weapons apis) slowly advance towards the party.  The party fires arrows but the apis are a hard target, catching and deflecting arrows with ease with their multiple limbs though a few arrows do penetrate their defences.  After Ertimei is hit with a small barb and Al shines his torch the party realizes the apis are firing small barbed metal darts that burn on contact.  Fearing the creatures, the party retreats back up the tunnel to the surface finding the way unopposed.  Brazz carries the steamer trunk back up to the surface.

Eli and Marsalis both rangers note the tracks have been cleared and someone cleaned up marks of their passage, no gnolls are seen but the mysterious large bird tracks are seen.  Marsalius notes the packed snow and mud ball on the ground.  When Al shines his hooded torch, he sees not a ball of mud but a rune encrusted skull and Lenoore says ‘Question’ looking at the ball.  Ertimei takes a sack and attempts to scoop up the mud ball before it is taken away by the rising tide but it burns his hand badly.  Al attempts to grab it but fails but encounters a different effect as he realizes it is a magical device that can answer questions but of very evil origin and possibly mabden magic.  Al attempts to ascertain the intent of the creator of the device and gets a vision of a creature giving orders to gnolls, ‘Do your jobs dogs, I need to figure out why they are coming’, then the ball was dropped and the creature took off to the water in fear.  Only mud remains as the ball dissolves in the skillet of his pan as Al’s vision ends..

A new decision awaits the group as they look across the lake to the town.

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