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player_journals:maervahr:survival_stories_from_the_hinterlands_session_139_-_april_7th_2024

Survival Stories From The Hinterlands

Return to the Delbo Prison Part 3 and Keisial's Escort Quest

Session 139, April 7th, 2024 - Return to the Delbo Prison Part 3 and Keisial's Escort Quest


  • Sapphira - Paladin 4
  • Jedor - Paladin
  • Randimir - Cleric / Magic-User
  • Monty the Weasel (keen-eared basically)
  • Keisial - Ranger 3
  • Xrith'atiril - Fighter 1
  • Morganna - Magic-User 3
  • Ynfrin Eletrar - Magic-User 1
  • Phineas - Cleric 3

Dead Moon the 25th, 497

We are in Qarn.

The party heads back to Delbo, to the north west of the city and once we arrive, Morganna casts Invisibility on herself.

We check for tracks outside the ruined walls of the city of Delbo. Keisial finds some humanoid tracks that look like long human feet with claws. There are two sets of tracks and they are accompanied by a group of four to five 4-legged animals like Jackals. These are not Gnoll tracks but the tracks went both in and out of Delbo.

Randimir casts Strength on Keisial and she now has an 18/30 Strength for 5 hours and gets +1 hit, +3 damage, and a 1-4 on doors.

Xrith'atiril is in front with Keisial. He has his bow out. Randimir has a continual light coin and Xrith was given a Ring of Continual Light.

As we move into the place, there is a faint glow of light in the south. It is a steady radiance of light coming from around the bridge area and the light is bright in color.

As we move into the southern area of the Delbo Prison complex, we can see that the light is coming from the pool of water below the bridge. We can see now that there is a coin glowing brightly inside the water, half buried in the sediment.

This was a copper coin thrown from Randimir at a previous time but there are no new objects beneath the bridge.

The Bridge is a Mimic and it has fed recently by us so we may pass. The Mimic says he last ate some rats. Randimir casts Find Traps before we go into the room with the crystals bars.


Xrith and Keisial are both on doors and we open the door. There are no dead Rust Monster corpses left in here and no marks or signs of battle. The two sets of crystalline prison bars glow dimly.

Monty listens at the door but hears nothing. Ynfrin compliments Randimir on his familiar and after some discussion, he will trade with Randimir for that spell.

We open the door to the south west and find a short hall that leads to another room with a regular door to the right. At the end of the room is another set of glowing blue bars. Through the bars we can see another, quite large cell which has in it a grotesque bipedal Demonic Creature that is covered in hair like a gorilla though its arms do not end in gorilla paws but look more like pincers. The Demon stands there looking through the cell bars at us, its pincers trembling.

This is not a standard Demon but a different type of creature from the lower planes.

Moving on, there is another door that we open to the south east. It looks like the crystal bars in this place originated from the ground and grew upward through some unknown form of magic. The door to the south east is locked.

A key that we found previously, Key ID 148, unlocks the door.


We open the door and find a small room in here. There are some very dusty boxes and broken shelves, like a storage closet, along with some broken crates that have aged and faded. All of the crates filled with dust however, also amongst the crates is a closed trunk and a chest.

Randimir's Find Traps spell points out that along the crease of the chest, where the lid touches the body, is the application of white blue crystal. It is of the same color as the cells in the other rooms. There is a 10% chance per level to find out the school of magic using Find Traps but Randimir does not detect this or any other traps.

How big is the trunk? It's smaller than the chest. The crystal material looks like the same material that makes up the bars. The gap between the bars is about 1' and is considerably wider than a normal bar. There were no traps at the end of the hall with the crystal bars and the rug or floor covering. The rug was also not trapped.

We do not touch the chest but we check inside the crates and find 20 steel bars. There are 20 ingots of steel and a couple boxes of chains. They all look normal. Each bar weighs about 100 coins.

Randimir will listen at the trunk but heres nothing inside. Sapphira tries to detect evil but there is no evil coming from the trunk. She would be able to check the chest as well. After some inspection, we find that there is a visible keyhole.

Sapphira gets closer to the bars and uses Detect Evil. She finds that the Demon creature inside is VERY evil and it follows her movements with its eyes.

Ynfrin talks to it, “How are you doing in there?” The creature drools and clacks its claws a couple times in response.

Keisial chimes in and says, “Snip once for yes and snip twice for no.”

The Demon snips once when we ask if it can hear us. Its claws dart forward as if trying to go through the bars and immediately, it blasts back and the creature HOWLS in anger.

Time to leave this creature alone…


We open the door on the second try as we head back to the other crystal bars at the end of the room. The Find Traps does not detect creatures like Mimics or Ear Seekers. We step up toward the edge of the rug to get a better look inside.

To the left, inside the cell, we see a great form of a brightly glowing fire. It seems to be burning without any form and there are two glowing red purple slits that look almost like two eyes and a mouth. Floating in the center of the great fire, below the eyes and the mouth, is a GOLD TUBE. It is seemingly suspended around the fire by a golden chain. It looks as though a fire is wearing a thick necklace with a long tube on it. The tube is 2' long and 2“ in diameter.

To the right, the cell is empty. Sapphira does not detect any evil on the fire creature, which appears to be a Fire Elemental.

Xrith says, “Hello there creature of fire do you speak?”

In his mind he hears a voice that tells him that it can be freed if the bars on the far cell are broken. It will reward us with anything we wish for.

Ynfrin asks, “Do you mean a wish?” The Elemental responds, “Break the bars on the far cell and a wish will be granted.

Xrith'atiril asks the creature if it is, in fact, an Elemental. It says that it is from the Elemental Plane of Fire and has been granted the power of Wish granting from the King of the Elementals.

“Why not use the wish on yourself?” The Elemental responds that it cannot due to the magic on the bars. Its power is great but its power is limited because of the bars. The ones close to it dampen its power but the power of these crystals are merely symbolic.

We further ask about who is its captor, is it Oaji? We follow up if it is the same Magic-User that once resided in Oaji's tower.

“I have been here for centuries. The bars are isolated and I do not have a name for my captor though it may have been Oaji.”

Elemental creatures do not remain on this plane and we know that it wishes only to return. As with that, it is being offered the power of the known planes, a wish. The Elemental planes are all true neutral in alignment.

Ynfrin says, “There is no other creature in that tower but a Vrock that was kept in another chamber”.

“What is the thing around your neck?” we ask the Elemental regarding the tube. It responds, “It is a specially protected capsul, created by the one we call Oaji as a way to protect it. Inside are items of value to Oaji.”

“If we were to release you would you give us this item?” The Elemental says that it will unless the farther bars will be broken first.

“Why didnt his master, Oaji, use the power to grant himself a single wish?” The Elementals responds to the inquiry, “Because the power of the wish was being held by Oaji, he did not want to expend it.”

The Paladin uses Detect Evil in the empty cell but nothing is found.

We know that a Wish is a very powerful and rare magic. Phineas lifts up the floor mat and can see a trapdoor underneath.

We ask the Elemental, “Where does this go?” The creature of living Fire says, “That door goes down to the tunnels beneath the city.”

Ynfrin throws dust through the bars and it goes through without any effect. He then tries to use a dagger to scrape the dust back and he is able to do so without any incident.

“What do you know about the other Demon?” The Elemental says that it does not know about the other creatures trapped in the cells down here. Phineas further describes it as best he can but it still does not know what it might be. It does remember a trap placed on a treasure inside the place we call Oaji's tower. It was to provide a warning to the place, for protection of the treasure.

“Can you give us a bit of information about the chest?” we ask, but it does not know.

“How can you provide us with proof of what you are saying?” It responds, “There, is the greatest treasure protected by the Vrock demon. You could trick the Vrock to gain access.”

We loop the chains around the bars, as instructed on the ones opposite from the Fire Elemental, and Randimir spikes open the door at the end of the hall. The party gathers on the far end of the hall and begin to pull the chain together.


Immediately, all of the bars shatter to dust on the cell we wrapped the chains around. Phineas can make a reaction roll at +30 and he gets a 117. A moment passes by and then he hears a voice inside his head that laughs,

“Your wish is inside the cell with the Fire Elemental.”

Phineas tells us that he has heard a voice say to him that the Wish is inside the chamber with the Fire Elemental, as he had heard. He then asks the voice if there is anything we can get in return?

“I have already told you about Oaji's tower and the Vrock.”


We head back in the chamber with the trunk and find that it feels like it has a weight of 30 pounds (300 coins). One of us still has a razor blade they intended to use on a different trap, which was inside the Dwarven Saint Tomb.

Also in here, there are 3 coils of 50' chains that weigh 5x as much as a rope. The 20 steel bars weigh 100 coins each. We get all grab the ingots.

  • 20 steel ingots.

Xrith grabs the trunk and Infryn grabs the chains and we begin to make our way out.


ROLL SURPRISE

We are surprised.

The encounter is 3” away. When we come around the corner, we are surprised by three Black Skeletons coming up the staircase. They get 3 attacks on us.

The Skeletons are randomly attacking anyone but are going for Keisial or Xrith. There are two attacks on Keisial and one attack on Xrith. Keisial bought plate mail so he has some protection at least. The Skeletons hit on a 15, they all miss.

We evade all the attacks from the Skeletons.

  • Keisial attacks.
  • Morganna stays back.
  • Xrith puts down the chest and attacks with his sword.
  • Infryn looks behind us.
  • Phineas attacks with his morning star and he has the chameleon cloak. Polymorph self and Invisibility spells are available to him.
  • Sapphira will Turn Undead and Jedor draws his weapon.
  • Randmir Turns Undead.

We are going on Segment 4.

Xrith did 1 damage and Phineas did 6 damage, which destroys one. The Skeletons are all turned automatically but they still get their attacks. Both are attacking Keisial.

Keisial has the Protection From Evil bonus from Sapphira. They miss and then the Skeletons begin fleeing.

For parting attacks, Phineas did 3 damage which destroys another Skeleton and Keisial kills the other one. They now lie in bone piles on the ground.

COMBAT ENDS


One turn passes.

Randimir casts find traps again as we go for the other cell door. We find that it is a closed cell that is completely empty.

We make it back to the surface and head back to Qarn.


We are back in the city of Qarn.

Keisial will use the razor to pick away at the powder while Randimir casts Find Traps on the chest and finds that there are still none. We open thee chest.

Inside is a sack filled with coins and laying next to the sack is a smaller bag that is a tanned color and tied off with a string. A third item is a pair of white gloves, one is laying on top of the other.

We cast Detect Magic and find strong magic on the dust and on the gloves.

  • The sack is full of white blue dust.
  • 100 pp.
  • We get 6 gp each for the 20 ingots.

Keisial puts on the magic gloves and she tries to lift something…When she puts on the gloves, they become partially invisible and when she looks at them, all she sees is her naked hands. After some testing, she finds that they do not afford an ability to climb or hide other than normal.

Xrith tries to throw a rock at Keisial and amazingly, she snatches the rock out of mid air. Our next test involves firing an arrow at her and Keisial is also able to snatch the arrow out of the air and she can magically throw it back at the shooter!

We roll off to see who gets those gloves and Ynfrin gets the Gloves of Missile Snaring (id 127).

Keisial tries to eat some of the dust and finds that it tastes like eating a solid rock. Randimir puts a pinch in his water pouch but the dust does not do anything.

Morganna claims the dust.


We discuss what to do against the Vrock. It was thought that a Vrock can bypass a Protection From Evil aura due to its natural Magic Resistance. Seeing that this effect will not be useful against such Demons, we talk about doing Keisial's class quest.


NEWS and RUMORS

Keisial's quest is a DL 2 class quest.

Her trainer wants her, along with a group of Mercenaries or a group of Adventurer allies, to join a caravan of 150 other Mercenaries to escort them as far as Hardin in the Valley of the Red Sun. It will continue on, past that place, to other domains past the Valley. Hardin is a hamlet that is in the domain of Dead Man's Stone. Our goal is not to trade with Hardin but to stop there and then travel north. We know that there are Brigands in the area, a type of Bandit that is Chaotic Evil. They have a higher chance to keep prisoners and slaves.


It has been a little rainy. We discuss, what are the chances of burning down the forest if someone casts a Fireball? They are not high.


Dead Moon 26th, 497

It is clear weather and we set out for Keisial's Escort Quest. We will travel one day to reach Riknettle and one day to reach Mombafra.

The travel to Riknettle is uneventful.

  • Morganna is casting invisibility every day.
  • Ynfrin memorizes darkness.
  • Randimir casts Strength on Keisial again.

Dead Moon 27th, 497

Travel to Mombafra is uneventful.

Morganna casts Invisibility on Monty the Weasel and Ynfrin takes out a loan to copy a spell from Morganna. He learns Magic Missile.

From Mombafra, the caravan will be traveling north. We will accompany them for one day and a half.

  • Xrith has a bow ready as we start out on this expedition.
  • Randimir casts Strength on Keisial each day.

Blade Moon the 1st, 497

There are 10 Mercenaries and 10 Merchants heading north to trade with the leaders of some domains in the wilderness. Our stretch of employment is to Hardin and we will be camping on the edge of the forest south of Hardin.

Our travel so far is uneventful and the weather remains clear.

We travel to the north east and reach the forest just south of Hardin, which is about 5 and 10 miles south of the hamlet. Camp is made on the edge of the forest for the evening.

Weather is still clear. It is a nice, clear spring night.

As we camp with the Mercenaries, some stories are exchanged. We hear a tale of an interesting tavern that is a couple of miles east of where we are camping now.


NEWS and RUMORS

THE BARKBACK TAVERN

This tavern was built many years ago inside the forest as an odd stopping point for travelers headed east of the Valley of the Red Sun. Back then it was a rare stopping point in the wilderness. About a year ago it was sacked by Brigands from the forest to the east and since then, travel to Hardin has become undesirable due to the presence of these Brigands.

Many of the Mercenaries are from Starling and tales told amongst the locals is that the Barkback Tavern is haunted now. They estimate that there are items of value inside but as with any tavern established in the wilderness, they must have powerful proprietors. So far though, none have been brave enough to access the Tavern.


Blade Moon the 2nd, 497

Keisial has an 18/20 Strength the next day from Randimir's spell.

We continue north through the scrubland. As we cut through the forest, we eventually make it to Hardin and they are now about 1/3 of the way to their destination during the day.

We can tell that everyone in Hardin is a rough sort of person but we would not want to be caught up in a fight with them. The Merchants say they will not stop for the evening here and then they present Keisial with a notarized letter.

The Mercenaries and the Merchants say that we are likely to be safe to stay in Hardin for one night if we wish to. The hamlet is under the control of Dead Man's Stone, a notorious base where the local Brigands are based.

The Tower of The Forgotten Master is still under the control of Lord Thompson's Men. We know that they were attacked by Gnolls at least once but overall were only pressed a couple times. The army at the Tower has held pretty steadily. They say that there has been no sign of opposition forces or allies of the Forgotten Master in the area, except for maybe the occasional distant flying creatures that could have been Dinosaurs.

The Mercenaries will travel to the north east and we discuss exploring the Tavern south of Hardin and whether we will stay in Hardin.

Meanwhile, we learn that the magical cloak does not afford Phineas any powers at all currently. These are only active during lunar months.

We understand that the longer we stay in Hardin, the more likely to have people from Dead Man's Stone approach to collect a tribure…or potentially, for that Vampire to show up.

If we spend one night here, we would have 1/3 of the day to explore the Tavern. which is located precisely in the woods between Trawis and Hardin.

Randimir has a Ring of Sustenance so he only has to sleep for 2 hours. If he uses the ring for a week he has to recharge for a week.

Elder Dasby, the local leader, will let us stay in the common room of Hardin for one night, that is, if we do not cause trouble. We decide to sleep in the common room…and the night passes without incident.


Blade Moon the 3rd, 497

The weather is still clear.

From Johnathan's Notes:

The Barkback tavern. A waypoint for those traveling to the north. The tavern was sacked by brigands from the east. Travel to Hardin is undesirable due to it falling to Deadman's Stone.
The tavern is supposedly haunted. It is believed there are some items of value given that the tavern stood this long on the borderlands of society.

Off we go!

It takes us longer than expected to find the BARKBACK TAVERN and once we do, about 2/3rds of the day passed. We are in one of the same hexes that we passed through previously on the way.

Some of the forest was cleared in this area and there was a path heading from the scrubland and then leading to the tavern. Once we get close, we see that there are a couple of buildings, one has a second level and is a heavily fortified construction. However, it is noted that any freestanding building will always be heavily fortified in these lands, with stone walls, arrow slits, etc. Also heavily fortified is a stable and next to that, a well.

We cut south from the Tavern after mapping the location to it. Our plan is to return later.

On the way back we will force march to Trawis.


ROLL SURPRISE

In the dead of night, WE ARE SURPRISED!

It is completely dark out and the night time phases are after sunset. It is a new moon and it is pitch black so we are going by our lights.

The creatures are surrounding us on all sides as we are in the scrublands while riding in on our horses, We hear a croak of a battlecry as we wander into 11 Giant Toads! They are bipedal and we are outdoors so they move 9” a round.

They are attacking during the surprise round but they are only moving one hex in the surprise segment. We take a -1 to all of our d20 rolls.

  • Randimir casts sleep.
  • Keisial charges.
  • Xrith charges with Keisial.
  • Phineas charges.
  • Sapphira and Jedor charge.

Sapphira's Ring of Regeneration has no effect on fatigue. One guy is slept by the Sleep spell and Randimir is not affected by the penalty. Xrith does 6 damage to one of the Toads and Jedor hits for 1 damage. Keisial hits for 14 killing one!

Now the Toads' attacks are coming. There are 3 are on Jedor and they are not affected by the Protection From Evil aura. He has AC 4 and the Toads must roll a 10. Jedor blocks two but takes one bite that hits for 6 damage. There is one attack on Phineas that hits and he takes 5 damage. There are 3 Toads on Randimir and he has AC 2. He takes 2 hits for 8 damage total. Then, there are 2 attacks on Sapphira and one hit for 7 damage.

  • Keisial attacks.
  • Xrith attacks.
  • Infryn casts Magic Missile on the Toads in the south group.
  • Randimir casts Sleep.

Randimir got two of them with his Sleep spell and Magic Missile does 3 damage.

  • Sapphira hit one for 8 damage.
  • Phineas did 5 damage.
  • Jedor hits for 6 damage.
  • Keisial hits for 4.
  • Jedor kills one!

Phineas is being attacked again and they hit on a 14. He is hit and takes 6 damage!

There are two attacks on Jedor and both hit. Jedor takes 6 damage and he is dropped to -2 hit points. Jedor is hit and attacked by the Toads and is knocked unconscious! Jedor is helpless.

There is one attack on Randimir which is a miss. Two attacks on Sapphira and 2 hits for 6 and 7 damage, a total of 13 damage.

  • Randimir casts Stinking Cloud on the one north side of Sapphira.
  • Morganna casts Magic Missile on the one on Sapphira.
  • Ynfrin runs.
  • Xrith tells Keisial to go after the one on Jedor and that he will hold off this one.

It takes 2 segments for Stinking Cloud to go off. Saphhira attacks and hits one for 4 damage. Phineas kills the one but it attacks him also and he is hit for 4 damage! Phineas is now at 0 hit points and goes down!

They get a morale check this round and they fail. The Toads are falling back fighting. Magic Missile goes off and does 5 and 4 damage. Randimir does 5 damage to the one in the Stinking Cloud. Magic missile hits the one for 10 damage and destroys it!

We have defeated all 11 of the Giant Toads!

COMBAT ENDS


Xrith starts gutting Giant Toads, looking for treasure. We find no treasure inside the bodies of the Toads and we are all healed up. Morganna casts Invisibility.

Everyone is healed up and then we continue on our way.


We have made it to Trawis.

There are 80 people in Trawis and the Elder gives us permission to use the common house. The people of Trawis will trade wine in exchange of some Toad legs. The next day we have Toad legs and wine!

We ask the locals about the Tavern we located and the people in Trawis tell us they know of the Barkback Tavern. They have not seen it but know its an Inn for Travelers and Adventurers. They also tell us that there is no reason for them to go to Hardin and of that place, they have no information

Xrith asks about the events of late. The locals tell us that the gem is still inlaid in the statue and it has warded off chaos from the area.

Jacob mentions that he wanted to build a house here. The villagers would not object to someone moving into the thorpe of Trawis. They will let us stay in Trawis for a week.

Currently, Keisial is level capped.


Blade Moon the 4th, 497

We travel back to Starling and arrive in the evening.

Jedor will be ready on the 12th and most of us can train in Starling

Keisial has to go to Mombafra from Starling and will be looking for a trainer as she is going up to level 3. 90% of the training is paid and she owes 300 gp which is paid!

We calculate combat XP.

Ynfrin gets the gloves and Morganna gets the crystal dust.

  • 100 pp and 120 gp.

We get 76 gp each.

  • Jedor gets 60 xp
  • 158 xp for everyone.

1658 xp.

Xrith is at 2,004 xp and will hit level 2 Fighter (Bard)!

Phineas caught a parasite in his nose / throat and it is acute. The parasite does not do anything to him but it is cured by Sapphira.

There just happens to be a Rhinock Memorial Fund for Fighter training! Xrith'atiril will take advantage of the scholarship and 1500 gp is taken from the fund!


END OF SESSION

player_journals/maervahr/survival_stories_from_the_hinterlands_session_139_-_april_7th_2024.txt · Last modified: 2025-07-12 04:00 by maervahr