A Mysterious Theft - Group 3, Part 1

It was two days after returning from the farmstead that had been struck by the "zombie and ghoul" plague, and the party was lounging in the Bugbear's Head Inn deciding what they might want to do next. As they sat and talked, Theodric Pinnman, the owner of the Inn, returned from his trip - and he brought with him the answer to the "what's next" question. Another farmer, about a day's journey to the south, was looking for help in locating and retrieving his farm tools, all of which had mysteriously disappeared. He suspected that some of the local Fey creatures were responsible. The party agreed to help out, and set out on the day's journey to the farmstead.

Having left in the afternoon, the party needed to camp along the road overnight along the way. Finding a clearing that was already furnished with a crude campfire ring, they ate their evening rations, set their watch schedule, and settled in for the night. DUring the third watch, Gambit, the Goblin Alchemist, fortunately heard clearly the loud twig snap that gave away the Bugbear that was trying to sneak into the camp. Combat ensued, and the bugbear was defeated, but not before it got in a few mighty blows on Dhraang, the Half-Orc Champion, who had leapt up from his sleep and, unarmored, faced down the creature. Dhraang nearly bought it, but his half-orc constitution and mighty (divine inspired) will to live saved him. (Hero point used to avoid going down!) After dealing with the remains of the bugbear, the camp returned to its rest, and the remainder of the night was uneventful.

In the morning, the group completed its journey to the farmstead of Keelan Jennings. The farmer explained that the troubles began when he started to chop down the last tree in the area he was clearing for a farm field - a huge oak tree that stood in the middle of the field, and which he had saved for last because of its size. Kleone, the Halfling Druid, immediately discerned the likely cause of the farmer's problem, and his Detect Magic cantrip confirmed this -- the tree was the home of a Dryad.

Castilia the Dryad appeared, confirming for all that they Fey were indeed involved. But Castilia was not angry or threatening, in fact she felt bad that she apparently had caused any real trouble for the farmer at all! She had been observing the farmer and his family since they arrived in this place the previous autumn, and was beginning to like them (the children especially). But when the farmer threatened her tree, she had to do something. She had convinced two of her fey friends - the Brownies Brannoch and Altruil - to help her "play a game" with the farmer... a game called "hide the axe". The childlike brownies (who had actually taken up residence in a burrow dug directly beneath the farmer's house), thought this was a great idea and decided on their own to expand the game, absconding with all metal tools in the farmer's toolshet. Furthermore, to make the game more challenging, they had recruited the aid of another friend to help them hide the tools.

The 'other friend' turned out to be a Leprechaun named Harley Dimpleglade. Harley lived a short distance away in the forest, and didn't really know or care about the farmer, but any chance to play a trick on the unsuspecting "Tall Folk" was not to be missed! Harley took the tools from the brownies and hid them near his home in the woods.

Meanwhile (back at the ranch), the party managed to coax the brownies out of their burrow with sweet muffins that the farmer's wife had baked that morning. They were very apologetic when they realized the trouble they caused, and immediately explained about Harley. They told the party how to find the leprechaun, and so they set out to do so and retrieve the tools.

When they confronted Harley, the leprechaun explained that he would be happy to help the party out in retrieving the tools, in exchange for a 'wee favor'. He was craving a nice egg for breakfast, and the chicken that laid the egg lived not far off in the forest. If the party would simply retrieve an egg for his breakfast, the leprechaun would assist them. The party was more than a little suspicious, but realized they had no choice, so off they went in search of chicken and egg.

The "chicken" was right where Harley told them it would be, The sharp eyes of the halflings were able to pick out the nest of the creature under a shrub in the middle of a clearing. Attempts to sneak into position to flank the creature before it detected them failed miserably, so the Half-Orc Dhraanghh decided to take the Leeroy Jenkins approach. He stormed into the clearing, greatsword at the ready. He got halfway to the creature before the cockatrice took flight and crashed beak-first into him. Fortunately, his armor prevented the beak from doing any damage. But the battle was joined, and the creature proved rather difficult to hit - and rather capable of sustaining damage when it was hit. Nevertheless, the attack onslaught from all four party members was enough to bring it down before anybody suffered any 'permanent' injuries.

At the end of the battle, though, the Half Orc was feeling the stiffening effects of the cockatrice's beak attack effects, and the Gambit the Goblin could barely move. These effects wore off after several minutes, though, and - with the egg retrieved from the nest and safely in hand - the party managed to clear the area before the distant sounds of what could have been the creature's mate got any closer.

Returning to Harley, they turned over the egg. Harley then informed them that he did not have the tools -- they had been stolen the night before by some local gremlims. Harly pointed out - repeatedly - that he had not lied to or deceived the party. He hadn't promised to return the tools... he had promised to "help the party retrieve the tools". And he honored his commitment. He had chased the gremlins after the theft, and was able to lead the party to the cave into which they escaped. Harley was having no part of entering the cave though, so he left the party to their own devices, happy that he had his breakfast. The party was left staring at the small mouth of the cave, knowing only that inside, they would likely find the tools, but also an unknown number of "gremlims".   The session ended here.