The Root of the Problem - Group 3 - Session 4
from the game session held on 09 November, 2022
General Summary
Dhraangg the half-orc champion, Kleone the halfling druid, Tom the halfling bard, and Gambit the goblin alchemist arrived back in Stannilode after ensuring that justice was done for the spirit of Owain Karolus. Tancreedy had been punished... Owain's family was being provided for, and his bones were on their way to his home town to be laid to rest near his family. The Mining Cooperative had redrawn the paperwork for the mine itself to reflect Karolus as its proper founder and prior owner; they had even renamed the mine in memory of Owain. During their last night on the road back to Stannilode, the party was even visited briefly by Owain's ghost, who wanted to express gratitude before 'moving on', and to ensure the party that the mine itself was now safe for operation. Dado Heywood, the Stannilode Cooperative agent was elated to finally hear this news. He didn't even mind too much as he paid out 40 gp from his own pocket as promised to the party members.
Spending that evening and the next day in the tavern and around the town, the party continued to seek any information that might lead them to their real objective: the mysterious 'they' that the Karnstown witch had threatened them (and the Karn) with after being caught for cursing the municipal well in the city. While they didn't hear any rumors that could directly lead them to their prey, they did hear about increased activity of gnoll raids on the trails leading to the most distant of the mines that delivered ore to the village. The occasional gnoll encounter had been the norm for years - decades even - but recently they seem to be happening far more frequently, and while they're still too far out to threaten the town directly, they have been getting closer... and thus impacting the ability to work more mines.
The party began to think that perhaps someone or something is urging the gnolls to be bolder in their attacks. It might even be the "mysterious 'They'". And so, they decided to head out onto the trails and see if they couldn't run into one of these gnoll patrols. They'd be doing the town another service (for which there was a bounty payment offered), but they really hoped to capture at least one alive to see what was behind their increased activity.
Their first day on the trails was uneventful. On the second day, they passed by the trail that led to the Karolus mine and finally got into the general area where the attacks had been reported. They followed one trail which led up one and over one hill on the way toward one of the mountain mines, and at sundown, decided to make camp. They found a place along the trail that had apparently been used frequently before - the small stone and pile of old ash marked where others had laid a campfire, and there were some cut stumps of trees with the felled logs providing some seating space around it. After building up a fire in the stone ring, and eating a bit of an evening meal from their rations, they settled in for the night.
Tom the bard took the first watch, which was uneventful. The rustling of small animals in the brush around the campsite was the only thing that disturbed the silence; he reported this to Gambit when he woke the goblin for second watch. Gambit, excited by the possibility of one of those nocturnal small animals providing a late-night snack, spent most of the watch stalking every tiny rustling sound she heard. Her efforts were rewarded with a chipmunk, which a silent, skillful leap headlong into a low bush allowed her to grab. Shortly, the critter was impaled on a stick and was being roasted - whole - over the campfire. The pleasant smell of cooking meat, combined with the putrid smell of charring fur and entrails were enough to briefly rouse both Dhraangg and Kleone, but both returned to their slumber quickly.
Gambit had nothing else to report as she woke Kleone once more - this time for her turn at watch. Once more, the watch was uneventful, and eventually, she woke Dhraangg for his turn. The half-orc rose and donned his armor while the halfling druid returned to her bedroll. He then began to slowly patrol the perimeter of the camp.
However vigilant he thought he was being, though, his surprise was complete when the predawn silence was broken by the sound of an arrow whizzing by his head and thudding into a tree just beyond the range of the campfires light. Instinct made him snap his attention to the sound of the arrow striking wood, but it immediately snapped back to his three companions around the campfire as the sounds of three more arrows ending their flights created a great stir there. One of those arrows struck Tom the bard a glancing blow, and a second thudded into the ground right next to Gambit's head. But the third one found the thigh of Kleone and embedded itself deeply. All three awoke with a start, two of them howling in pain.
The sudden sounds of the hyena-like whoops and yips of the attacking gnolls finally got Dhraangg's attention pointing in the right direction. Looking down the hill, he saw several of the tall, gangly dog-headed creatures charging up the hill toward them. Two had stopped to fire arrows once more, but both missed their mark. Another was staying at the back of the pack, but instead of wielding a bow or other weapon, this one seemed to be moving its arms around in wild gestures. 'A spellcaster... great,' was Dhraangg's thought, and this was confirmed when a the glowing image of a long curved sword appeared in the air beside Dhraangg and slashed out at him. He managed to duck the attack, fortunately.
One - the largest of the group, led the charge briefly, but then stopped and began barking orders (literally) motioning for its companions to fan out. For his part, Dhraangg charged down the hill, hoping to engage with the obvious leader of the gnoll pack. He did so, swinging his greatsword in a mighty arc as he reached the gnoll's leader. The sword struck home and while it did not bring down the gnoll, it clearly did some significant damage. Seeing this, two other gnolls ignored the 'fan out' order and came to the aid of their leader, attacking Draangg from both sides. Draangg managed to avoid their attacks.
Meanwhile, Kleone scrambled to rise and immediately called upon her healing magic to help herself. Seeing Dhraangg closing on the leader, Tom began singing a song of courage and encouragement to bolster the half-orc in his combat. Gambit fumbled in her pack for her hand crossbow and bolts. The arrows launched by the charging gnolls missed their marks.
The gnoll leader lunged at Dhraangg with a long, curved sword, but - perhaps still imbalanced after the half-orc's first attack, it stumbled and fell into Dhraangg, the blade harmlessly deflected by the half-orc's armor. The creature struck its head on the half-orc's rock-like shoulder and seemed to be slightly dazed. Unfortunately, the weight of the creature unbalanced Dhraangg, who also stumbled while trying to get in a blow with a greatsword on an opponent that was practically in his arms. Dhraangg fell to the ground, and managed to get a faceful of dirt which temporarily blinded him.
Meanwhile, Kleone, having healed some of the damage delivered by the first arrow, rushed forward to help Dhraangg, hurling fire as she neared the cluster of gnolls surrounding the half-orc. One of the creatures caught the burst of fire full-on. It howled as it decided to charge at the source of its pain. Gambit successfully dodged the swing of the magical floating blade that was being controlled by the gnoll spellcaster far down the hill. She missed, however, with her first crossbow shot, and began to reload. It was then that she remembered the poison she had crafted, and hurrledly applied that to the bolt that she loaded into the hand crossbow. Tom positioned himself behind a tree-trunk as he readied his sling.
The gnome leader, still reeling from the effects of striking its face on Dhraangg's armor, swung wildly, but blindly, hoping to score as it struggled to regain its senses. The blow struck home, so the gnoll immediately followed with another rapid strike in the same direction. This too found its mark. Fortunately for Dhraangg, though, both initial and follow-up swing did not find him as a target, but instead struck one of the gnolls that had rushed to the aid of its captain. The blows were not fatal, but were significant. Unfortunately, though, Dhraangg himself was still blinded by the dirt in his eyes, so even though he got to his feet, he could do nothing but swing wildly and miss.
The still-burning gnoll reached Kleone and swung its axe, but missed. Kleone counterd with another gout of flame, then ran to get into position to help Dhraangg.
Gambit, tired of ducking the magical blade, climbed into a tree before aiming a shot at a gnoll that had been charging toward her. She fired, and the poison bolt found its mark.
The gnoll spellcaster decided that its magical weapon would best be used against the half-orc, and so caused it to rapidly fly throught he air and swing at the half-orc. It missed its mark, though. The gnoll leader, having regained its senses - but seeing what it had done to its companion, swung once more. But its wild anger caused this blow to imbalance the creature yet again. Dhraangg, with his sight restored, swung once more at his opponent. This time, the rewarding feel of blade striking flesh was followed with the even more rewarding sight of a gnoll's head sailing through the air as the rest of the body crumpled to the ground. Even as this happened, he managed to duck another swipe by the magical blade.
At almost the same time, the burning gnoll pursuing Kleone got another gout of flame delivered from the druid, while the one that had been struck by its own leader had decided to get out of the way and pursue Tom, who had just pelted it with a sling stone.
Almost as if cued by the fall of the gnoll leader, the accumulated effects of attacks by the other party members finally paid off. The one struck by Kleone's fire twice staggered and fell, finally consumed by the flames. The one that took the poisoned bolt from Gambit staggered forward toward the tree where the goblin sat, but then fell to the ground motionless as the poison claimed it. And Dhraangg, not wasting time, turned around and with a mighty blow finished off the last of the charging attackers that was closing on Tom and Kleone.
The gnoll spellcaster suddenly realized that things were not going well for its side. The magical weapon disappeared as the caster began to weave another spell. Kleone charged it, thinking she'd be able to get close enough to fire yet anothere gout of flame at the foe. But she stumbled as she did, and somehow her casting attempt went terribly awry. Her companions saw her blink out of existence entirely, only to hear her cry of alarm a split-second later. The cry was coming from far above, though, as the errant spellcasting had apparently "blinked" Kleone to the very top of a tree behind her intended target. This tree, not happy with the weight of a halfling suddenly applied to its topmost crown branches, began to sway and crack almost immediately as Kleone hung on for dear life.
The gnoll completed its spell, and a great globe of inky blackness suddenly appeared where the gnoll stood. Dhraangg charged anyway, but the magical darkness caused him to not see the ledge where the path turned, and for the second time, he found himself face-down flat on the ground. The gnoll, meanwhile, used the darkness to hide the direction in which it fled. The tree holding the halfling cracked further, lowering Kleone into the globe of darkness as well. All she could do was hold on and call for help as more cracking sounds were followed by small but sudden jerks downward as the tree yielded further.
When the darkness faded, Kleone found herself clinging to an almost horizontal, but still cracking tree trunk - about 10' off the ground. Dhraangg, who had regain his feet, stood underneath and the halfling safely dropped into his arms. The party realized that their opportunity to capture a gnoll was missed as the spellcaster was long gone. The satisfied themselves by looting the bodies of the fallen gnomes, and then decided that they should 'strategically retreat' a bit to rest and recover.
The party spent the rest of the day heading back down the trail and turning off to the Karolus mine. They intended to overnight there to recover before coming back out on the trail in search of more gnolls - or whatever else may be out there.
Spending that evening and the next day in the tavern and around the town, the party continued to seek any information that might lead them to their real objective: the mysterious 'they' that the Karnstown witch had threatened them (and the Karn) with after being caught for cursing the municipal well in the city. While they didn't hear any rumors that could directly lead them to their prey, they did hear about increased activity of gnoll raids on the trails leading to the most distant of the mines that delivered ore to the village. The occasional gnoll encounter had been the norm for years - decades even - but recently they seem to be happening far more frequently, and while they're still too far out to threaten the town directly, they have been getting closer... and thus impacting the ability to work more mines.
The party began to think that perhaps someone or something is urging the gnolls to be bolder in their attacks. It might even be the "mysterious 'They'". And so, they decided to head out onto the trails and see if they couldn't run into one of these gnoll patrols. They'd be doing the town another service (for which there was a bounty payment offered), but they really hoped to capture at least one alive to see what was behind their increased activity.
Their first day on the trails was uneventful. On the second day, they passed by the trail that led to the Karolus mine and finally got into the general area where the attacks had been reported. They followed one trail which led up one and over one hill on the way toward one of the mountain mines, and at sundown, decided to make camp. They found a place along the trail that had apparently been used frequently before - the small stone and pile of old ash marked where others had laid a campfire, and there were some cut stumps of trees with the felled logs providing some seating space around it. After building up a fire in the stone ring, and eating a bit of an evening meal from their rations, they settled in for the night.
Tom the bard took the first watch, which was uneventful. The rustling of small animals in the brush around the campsite was the only thing that disturbed the silence; he reported this to Gambit when he woke the goblin for second watch. Gambit, excited by the possibility of one of those nocturnal small animals providing a late-night snack, spent most of the watch stalking every tiny rustling sound she heard. Her efforts were rewarded with a chipmunk, which a silent, skillful leap headlong into a low bush allowed her to grab. Shortly, the critter was impaled on a stick and was being roasted - whole - over the campfire. The pleasant smell of cooking meat, combined with the putrid smell of charring fur and entrails were enough to briefly rouse both Dhraangg and Kleone, but both returned to their slumber quickly.
Gambit had nothing else to report as she woke Kleone once more - this time for her turn at watch. Once more, the watch was uneventful, and eventually, she woke Dhraangg for his turn. The half-orc rose and donned his armor while the halfling druid returned to her bedroll. He then began to slowly patrol the perimeter of the camp.
However vigilant he thought he was being, though, his surprise was complete when the predawn silence was broken by the sound of an arrow whizzing by his head and thudding into a tree just beyond the range of the campfires light. Instinct made him snap his attention to the sound of the arrow striking wood, but it immediately snapped back to his three companions around the campfire as the sounds of three more arrows ending their flights created a great stir there. One of those arrows struck Tom the bard a glancing blow, and a second thudded into the ground right next to Gambit's head. But the third one found the thigh of Kleone and embedded itself deeply. All three awoke with a start, two of them howling in pain.
The sudden sounds of the hyena-like whoops and yips of the attacking gnolls finally got Dhraangg's attention pointing in the right direction. Looking down the hill, he saw several of the tall, gangly dog-headed creatures charging up the hill toward them. Two had stopped to fire arrows once more, but both missed their mark. Another was staying at the back of the pack, but instead of wielding a bow or other weapon, this one seemed to be moving its arms around in wild gestures. 'A spellcaster... great,' was Dhraangg's thought, and this was confirmed when a the glowing image of a long curved sword appeared in the air beside Dhraangg and slashed out at him. He managed to duck the attack, fortunately.
One - the largest of the group, led the charge briefly, but then stopped and began barking orders (literally) motioning for its companions to fan out. For his part, Dhraangg charged down the hill, hoping to engage with the obvious leader of the gnoll pack. He did so, swinging his greatsword in a mighty arc as he reached the gnoll's leader. The sword struck home and while it did not bring down the gnoll, it clearly did some significant damage. Seeing this, two other gnolls ignored the 'fan out' order and came to the aid of their leader, attacking Draangg from both sides. Draangg managed to avoid their attacks.
Meanwhile, Kleone scrambled to rise and immediately called upon her healing magic to help herself. Seeing Dhraangg closing on the leader, Tom began singing a song of courage and encouragement to bolster the half-orc in his combat. Gambit fumbled in her pack for her hand crossbow and bolts. The arrows launched by the charging gnolls missed their marks.
The gnoll leader lunged at Dhraangg with a long, curved sword, but - perhaps still imbalanced after the half-orc's first attack, it stumbled and fell into Dhraangg, the blade harmlessly deflected by the half-orc's armor. The creature struck its head on the half-orc's rock-like shoulder and seemed to be slightly dazed. Unfortunately, the weight of the creature unbalanced Dhraangg, who also stumbled while trying to get in a blow with a greatsword on an opponent that was practically in his arms. Dhraangg fell to the ground, and managed to get a faceful of dirt which temporarily blinded him.
Meanwhile, Kleone, having healed some of the damage delivered by the first arrow, rushed forward to help Dhraangg, hurling fire as she neared the cluster of gnolls surrounding the half-orc. One of the creatures caught the burst of fire full-on. It howled as it decided to charge at the source of its pain. Gambit successfully dodged the swing of the magical floating blade that was being controlled by the gnoll spellcaster far down the hill. She missed, however, with her first crossbow shot, and began to reload. It was then that she remembered the poison she had crafted, and hurrledly applied that to the bolt that she loaded into the hand crossbow. Tom positioned himself behind a tree-trunk as he readied his sling.
The gnome leader, still reeling from the effects of striking its face on Dhraangg's armor, swung wildly, but blindly, hoping to score as it struggled to regain its senses. The blow struck home, so the gnoll immediately followed with another rapid strike in the same direction. This too found its mark. Fortunately for Dhraangg, though, both initial and follow-up swing did not find him as a target, but instead struck one of the gnolls that had rushed to the aid of its captain. The blows were not fatal, but were significant. Unfortunately, though, Dhraangg himself was still blinded by the dirt in his eyes, so even though he got to his feet, he could do nothing but swing wildly and miss.
The still-burning gnoll reached Kleone and swung its axe, but missed. Kleone counterd with another gout of flame, then ran to get into position to help Dhraangg.
Gambit, tired of ducking the magical blade, climbed into a tree before aiming a shot at a gnoll that had been charging toward her. She fired, and the poison bolt found its mark.
The gnoll spellcaster decided that its magical weapon would best be used against the half-orc, and so caused it to rapidly fly throught he air and swing at the half-orc. It missed its mark, though. The gnoll leader, having regained its senses - but seeing what it had done to its companion, swung once more. But its wild anger caused this blow to imbalance the creature yet again. Dhraangg, with his sight restored, swung once more at his opponent. This time, the rewarding feel of blade striking flesh was followed with the even more rewarding sight of a gnoll's head sailing through the air as the rest of the body crumpled to the ground. Even as this happened, he managed to duck another swipe by the magical blade.
At almost the same time, the burning gnoll pursuing Kleone got another gout of flame delivered from the druid, while the one that had been struck by its own leader had decided to get out of the way and pursue Tom, who had just pelted it with a sling stone.
Almost as if cued by the fall of the gnoll leader, the accumulated effects of attacks by the other party members finally paid off. The one struck by Kleone's fire twice staggered and fell, finally consumed by the flames. The one that took the poisoned bolt from Gambit staggered forward toward the tree where the goblin sat, but then fell to the ground motionless as the poison claimed it. And Dhraangg, not wasting time, turned around and with a mighty blow finished off the last of the charging attackers that was closing on Tom and Kleone.
The gnoll spellcaster suddenly realized that things were not going well for its side. The magical weapon disappeared as the caster began to weave another spell. Kleone charged it, thinking she'd be able to get close enough to fire yet anothere gout of flame at the foe. But she stumbled as she did, and somehow her casting attempt went terribly awry. Her companions saw her blink out of existence entirely, only to hear her cry of alarm a split-second later. The cry was coming from far above, though, as the errant spellcasting had apparently "blinked" Kleone to the very top of a tree behind her intended target. This tree, not happy with the weight of a halfling suddenly applied to its topmost crown branches, began to sway and crack almost immediately as Kleone hung on for dear life.
The gnoll completed its spell, and a great globe of inky blackness suddenly appeared where the gnoll stood. Dhraangg charged anyway, but the magical darkness caused him to not see the ledge where the path turned, and for the second time, he found himself face-down flat on the ground. The gnoll, meanwhile, used the darkness to hide the direction in which it fled. The tree holding the halfling cracked further, lowering Kleone into the globe of darkness as well. All she could do was hold on and call for help as more cracking sounds were followed by small but sudden jerks downward as the tree yielded further.
When the darkness faded, Kleone found herself clinging to an almost horizontal, but still cracking tree trunk - about 10' off the ground. Dhraangg, who had regain his feet, stood underneath and the halfling safely dropped into his arms. The party realized that their opportunity to capture a gnoll was missed as the spellcaster was long gone. The satisfied themselves by looting the bodies of the fallen gnomes, and then decided that they should 'strategically retreat' a bit to rest and recover.
The party spent the rest of the day heading back down the trail and turning off to the Karolus mine. They intended to overnight there to recover before coming back out on the trail in search of more gnolls - or whatever else may be out there.
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