We had our “lucky 13th” session smack dab in the middle of the holidays, so not surprisingly only one player was able to show up. Bill arrived and was ready to go. He ran his Lathanderite cleric Oisin, as well as his wife Pam’s elven ranger Kale. The party wizard, Keseim (Player Wes absent), was still conveniently unconscious after being drugged by an arrow tipped with some sleep poison. The rogue Milo (Player Jamie absent) stormed off in a huff due to the fact that he was denied the chance to further pummel the Autumn Blade elf captive. He wasn’t seen for the rest of the session (again, conveniently ;-).
So, the party and their elven warriors were indeed saved by elves from an allied clan: the Summer Green clan. These newcomers, led by a ranger named Arilyn, revealed that their clan had been recently under attack by supposedly demonic forces from the eastern portion of the High Forest. This was worrisome, as the demon-controlled Hellgate Keep lies at the easternmost portion of the forest. The evil denizens of that fiend-ridden city had been responsible, in part, of the ancient elven realm of Eaerlann. However, small contingents of Summer Green elves, such as the one that had come to the party’s rescue, had managed to slip south when they heard that the Spring Dawn clan was in trouble.
After some debate as to what to do next (return to Kale’s clan, or track down the Autumn Blades and take the fight to them), the party decided to send a splinter group north to track down the Autumn Blades and test their strength. This group included the Summer Green elves, some elven warriors (led by the sometimes bumbling elven NPC named Otiver), Oisin, Kale, and Kale’s fellow Daughters of Mielikki rangers Karis and Rel. So this group struck out to see if they could hit back against their enemies.
After traveling for several hours tracking the very obvious movements of the Autumn Blades (they were obviously not trying to hide their tracks), the group came to the ruins of an elven-built watchtower. The Autumn Blade’s tracks led to the gaping entrance of the tower. The rangers snuck up to the tower and listened for sounds from within, but heard nothing. The group, convinced that the Autumn Blades were hiding within, decided to rush the interior of the tower and take the fight to their enemies.
The opening salvo of their attack would be a sonic attack spell cast by Oisin the cleric. When Oisin send his spell screaming through the entrance, the impact made the entire tower ring like a gigantic bell. Not long after, the sound of screeching emanated from the tower. This was followed by the emergence of two lizard-like humanoids from the tower’s entrance, which the group quickly identified as troglodytes.
The elven warriors who had taken up positions just outside the entrance cut the two creatures down quickly, with the help of arrows fired by the rangers. Then the warriors rushed into the tower as the first wave of the group’s attack. They were greeted by a ruined interior, at the center of which stood a spiral staircase leading up. Next to the staircase was a gaping hole in the floor. It was from this hole that more troglodytes began to clamber in what would become a flood of monstrous humanoids. The group fought valiantly, but was soon overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Several of the Summer Green clan elves were killed before the group was able to make good their retreat. The troglodytes gave up the chase quickly, seemingly unwilling to stray too far from the confines of the tower.
The session ended with the party heading back to where they had left the remainder of their companions.
To be continued…
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