• Xrith'atiril
• Oswald
• Jacob
• Josalyn
• Briiz
• Lusia
• Sapphira
• Jedor
• Lygan
• Phineas
• Ptolemy

Day 14.

Three is a hard rain and we are in a light forest.

We are beginning right after the last session where left off.

The Trolls chains are hampering its movement. We are 7“ away from the Troll. The Troll and the Black Horse are less than 1” away from each other. The horse looked disturbed but was completely weighed down by the chains. The Troll has a look of confusion, and begins to yell! He drops the chest on the ground.

• Jacob charges
• Josalyn charges.
• Briiz stays back.
• Lusia hcarges.
• Lygan stays back.
• Phineas stays back to heal.
• Oswald casts Light.
• Sapphira gets on horse and charges.
• Jedor commands his horsemen to gather around him.
• Xrith will charge up and shout “surrender”.

We win initiative.

The troll is not happy. Xrith's words have no effect. The party charges forward.

1 segment to move forward 2.7“ on horseback, the rest of us are behind. The troll can see our large force coming and has hatred in its eyes. It tries to break its chains using Bend Bars. It has a 50% chance to get out. It does not get out.

Horse chargers can attack it first. They get a +4 to hit. Sapphira hits for 13 damage. Josalyn does 7 and 6 damage. Lusia does 6 damage.

It retaliates against Sapphira. It has 3 attacks. Sapphira has Protection from Evil so she has AC 1. All 3 attacks miss Sapphira!

Jacob did 25 damage total! Xrith missed. The Light spell goes off first. It is now blinded by Oswald's spell! -4 to Attacks and Saves, and we get a +10.

The Troll is cut down and falls to the ground with a plop. Internal organ flesh falls off like an ooze. Mouth just sags.

Josalyn starts filling vials of Troll blood. Phineas attaches a chain to his horse. There are some chain links attached to the other horse, Sapphira will separate it by loosening the chain. She feels a deep internal sense of belonging as if she was supposed to be here. It has a fierce knowing inside.

She approaches the horse to let it smell her. The horse appears as though it is worn, about half total hit points. it is a male warhorse.

Lusia gets out a torch and lights it.

Nothing has moved on the Troll so far. The Troll's face begins to boil.

Xrith takes a look at the chest. It is locked or has a latching mechanism. Josalyn casts Find Traps.

Oswald will cast Speak with Animals on the Horse. He introduces Sapphira to the Horse, you are among friends. Oswald can cure you. Reaction roll means the horse is receptive. Its not injured. It says that it has embarrasment. It is not the best fighting shape.

Sapphira is a great Paladin of Rook. The Horse says it was never given a name, it was captured in a swamp and it was pulled all over the place as a young stallion. The swamp was to the west. Captured by hobgoblins and sold as a slave to the man we killed. The horse is now called Shadow.

It was within the last year that it was captured. It doesnt remember its earliest days. Its a young horse. It remembers being in a swamp with other Hobgoblins with a different mark. Been dragged to strange rituals. In the last year it was sold to another group, they bore the same mark as the ones we killed and the black armored warrior.

They were keeping it as a prize. Kept at a strange structure in the forest, which is the base of the Hobgoblins and black armored man. It is extremely dangerous, being controlled by a powerful witch. The Troll was a captive of the Witch, who has other dark creatures in its possession. The Hobgoblins bring it fungus and supplies.

Shadow says he knows where the house is and could guide us back there. He warns again of grave danger there. It possesses many dangerous beasts.

Josalyn casts Detect Magic. Powerful magic on the Morningstar. Nothing else on his body. Josalyn searches the man and finds a sizable key.

The Horse knows the name of the warrior: Jeldenvas. The name of the Hobgoblin tribes is the Withered Eye. The Witch is also known as The Withered Eye.

The Withered Eye controls the entire forest that we are now in and seeks to gather many monsters to her to fortify her position. There is fungi in the chest.

Sapphira will not ride Shadow just yet.

Xrith approaches the Hobgoblin to question it.

He serves the Withered Eye, there are 50 of them, bolstered by the Witch. We would be a fool to attack the house. They want to slay the Barbarian clans in the region. The Hobgoblin says that the Barbarians selfeshly hoards the plats in the canyon and refuse to cooperate. There are no patrols, just parties that go out.

There are coins and fungal caps in the chest. The Hobgoblin does not know what the fungus is used for. There are no traps on the chest. There is just forest land leading to the Withered Eye.

The Troll is visibly regenerating but it is chained up, the arm is crawling toward the Troll. We have collected enough blood now for a potion. Lusia holds a torch up the Troll until it dies.

Jacob finds that the Morningstar is +1.

• Morningstar +1
• Key to the chest.
• 356 cp
• 129 gp
• 170 gp
• 2810 sp
• 1500 ep
• 763 gp
• 3 different types of Fungi, potion brewing ingredients.
• Plate Mail (black)
• Large Shield (black, trimmed silver)
• Two-Handed Sword
• Longbow and 25 arrows.
• Dagger

The Hobgoblin opens the chest. Sapphira cannot search for another special mount for 10 years. It has an intelligence of a human. Its never 50% lower than Sapphira's HD.

5d8+5, 26 hp. Shadow is fully healed.

Treasure is loaded up on the mule.

Briiz takes the Morningstar.

Nighttime phase at the end of the day.

Watch 1: Jacob, Josalyn, Lygan. Watch 2: Xrith.

We are in a forest at night. Jacob executes the Hobgoblin.

We head into Hills, going SE. Rain has stopped and its cloudy. We hit a plain at 5 points of movement.

We are in Plains within the Badlands. There is a small settlement, about Thorpe sized. Mostly buildings made of dirt and dried timber. This is in the current hex.

No banners being flown and it had a palisade. Not crude but no tents, these are buildings. These are more dry plains here.

Jacob flies over 25” above the fort. There are human like things there. Smoke coming out of the buildings, looks pretty standard Thorpe. Looks like a tiny settlement.

Sapphira will go to ask to help at the fort. She must make a reaction roll.

We ride toward the 2.5 miles where we saw the Thorpe. Everyone we can see is wearing a carved wooden mask with a face on it. They have a tribal motif to their masks.

She gets a 159 Reaction roll!

Sapphira says her thing and they say we arrived in the settlement of LEPOLAP.

They are humble people that survive off trade from merchant caravans and barbarian tribes. Their leader is ELDER MEHEN. They take kindly to us and accept her offer to cure diseases.

None of them remove their masks while talking to them. Sapphira will cure disease on one of them. They are grateful for that. They offer to let us stay there and will share their food but do not have anything to offer for trade.

They grow some root vegetables and the palisade looks like it was built decades ago and needs help with construction.

Xrith will help them with their palisades using Carpentry.

Badlands lie up ahead, we will have a rough journey up ahead toward the Hollow.

We really hit it off with these people.

Xrith asks about the witch to the northeast. They shudder and speak in a low voice. They have heard from time to time of a witch to the north. They do not wish to know anything about it, they are opposed to witchcraft and strange magics.

There is a meeting hall but not much else. We can sleep in the meeting hall for protection.

Their Cleric died about 8 years ago.

Josalyn begins curing Lygan, along with Oswald, Lygan is healed up to 13. Lusia heals him for the rest.

They wear these masks because they have worn them for 3 generations. They wear them to ward off an ancient curse. The Cleric was named Pitril the Protector who discovered the curse and realized they were under constant attacks and could not grow crops. The curse was for some great sin that their ancestors comitted. We are not at risk of the curse.

Petril said that the origin of the curse was not known, so it could not be removed. The best he could do was have the masks constructed. There are 43 people here exactly.

Do they have anyone that can be trained as a Cleric? They have a relative of Petril that shows promise to be trained.

He will be trained by Lusia for 25 gp a month to be taken under her tutelage. Lusia will pick her up on the way back. She will pay for the amount on the way back so she can give it to her family.

Night is uneventful.

We travel through some Mesas and it is cloudy.

We are traveling through the rough terrain of the Mesas of the badlands, going through valleys. In the middle of the day, Jacob sees that there is a small group of humanoids sneaking around the bend just up ahead. They are 24“ away.

They do not notice Jacob overhead. They are man-sized, humanoids. There are 9 of them. They were not doing anything in particular.

We avoid them.

We rest for the night, no encounters and it is Cloudy.

Sapphira rides Shadow now.

We pass through mesas. From Lepolap it goes Mesas Mesas, badlands, mesas, then NE, then mesas x3 then badlands.

We are camping in the mesas.

It is still cloudy in the evening. No encounters.

The weather clears up.

We have about 65 miles left. The day is uneventful through badlands x2, mesas.

Nightime is clear. No encounters during camp.

The weather is clear.

We pass through one hex of mesas and come to a vast forest. Medium forest in the next hex.

Jacob will continue flying overhead.

He is surprised on a 3.

The party is also surprised. They are NOT surprised.

We are surprised by 12 Wolves at 11 inches distance.

The Wolves do not charge. They are positioning behind trees, backing up a bit. They all look at us but do not attack.

We try to withdraw and they ignore us. They do not have interest in us.

We travel into a meadowland, thicketland in the Hollow. Sizable bushes. There is heavy forest in the direction we need to go. Cannot go further.

During watch 2, Lusia Sapphira and Xrith and some hirelings and Jacob.

Not surprised.

During the nighttime, we spot a group of sizable 4 legged creatures moving in the night. They look quite bulky and 4 legged, they look like bears. They are too far away due to their size. They are surprised.

We douse the fire and they move on to someplace else.

Next morning is clear.

We travel into the medium forest and then heavy forest.

The weather has become cloudy.

Watch number 1 must roll surprise.

Jacob is asleep. Lusia is wearing leather armor.

Encounter distance is 11”.

The party sees a single solitary creature in the forest, it is 8' tall and looks bulky. It moves unnaturally through the forest beyond the firelight. We cannot tell what it is.

• Josalyn readies herself to receive a charge and wakes the party.
• Jedor quietly wakes up someone.
• Lygan readies his weapons.
• Oswald casts Light at it.

We win initiative.

Everyone wakes up as the creature moves toward us. Oswald gets his Light spell off. Must save on an 11, it does not save! It is suddenly illuminated. Standing before us is a creature with arms and legs but is a massive blob with green vegetation. it is 8' tall. The light illuminates it, maybe a Shambling Mound.

• Sapphira grabs her shield and sword.
• Xrith will grab his bow to fire.
• Jacob dons his elven chain. Josalyn defends Jacob.
• Briiz dons his jacket. It takes 1 round.
• Lusia braces for a charge. Actually she casts Prayer.
• Lygan has a potion. He drinks a potion of plant control and says “be cool”. ID 138.
• Phineas casts Spiritual Hammer.
• Oswald braces for a charge.
• Ptolemy is 5“ away. He stays and goes 4” behind the front line.

Tied initiative!

Potion is drank, 1d4+1 segments to take effect. 5 segments. Spiritual Hammer is 5 segments.

Xrith looses an arrow and hits for 4 damage. It sinks into the flesh, but doesnt do much.

It continues its charge. Xrith misses his second shot.

On segment 5 it gets to the party.

Must his AC 1. No spells have gone off yet. Jedor misses.

8 damage from Josalyn, it is half effective. 6 damage from Oswald. Sapphira hits for 10, only half effective.

Jedor is being attacked. Protection from Evil does not apply. It cannot be blinded by Light since he does not have eyes. It hits on a 5. 2 attacks, 1 hit. Jedor is struck by a strong arm for 11 damage!

Spiritual Hammer finishes on the next segment.

Lygan drinks the potion and will gain control if it saves. IT SAVES! The potion is resisted.

• Sapphira orders.
• Xrith moves to engage with his sword and shield.
• Jacob moves to engage.
• Lygan charges.
• Phineas attacks.
• Lusia charges with her mace.
• Oswald attacks.
• Ptolemy doesnt do anything.

We lose initiative.

Jedor, Oswald, Sapphira and Josalyn.

Oswald is attacked. Prayer goes off he is hit by 1 for 8 damage.

AC 0, +1 for Prayer.

Lygan does 9 damage, and he slices it down!

THE CREATURE DIES.

These things are known to have a lair. Jedor is healed for 4. Oswald heals himself for 2. Josalyn heals 1 for Oswald. Oswald is then fully healed by Josalyn.

Phineas heals for 1 and Josalyn fully heals him.

We gather parts from it. In the center of the creature is some kind of weird brain.

Watch 3 must Roll Surpsise.

We are surprised.

Encounter distance at 9“.

Jacob, Phineas, Ptolemy and Briiz. and we are surprised by over 30 Bugbears. They are charging.

32 Bugbears.

They are at 5.6”, they are wielding morningstars. There is 1 highly decorated bugbear among them. Painted armor with assistants. Leading from the back.

• Jacob braces for a charge.
• Phineas runs.
• Ptolemy casts sleep on the group.
• Briiz will murder some bugbears.

They will not be able to engage the group. 4.4“, Phineas has fled and is gone. Ptolemy casts sleep.

1 of them is slept.

Combat is joined.

There are 13 Mercenaries and 10 of us.

1 attack on Ptolemy, AC 10. He is hit for 7 and his skull is crushed! PTOLEMY IS DEAD! 1 attack on Jedor, AC 5/9, he is hit for 5 damage. 1 on Xrith, AC 8/9 takes 6 damage. 1 on Jacob is missed. 2 on Josalyn, 1 hit for 3 damage. 1 on Briiz, he is missed. 3 on Lusia, AC 5/7, 2 hits for 5 and 3 damage. 2 on Lygan, 1 hit for 7 damage. 2 on Oswald, both hit for 7 and 5.

Mercenaries are then attacked. Ones that are sleeping are 9/9, 2 are awake from Lusia's group. one takes 3 damage and one takes 8 damage. 1 is killed. The ones that are awake are 5/5, they take 3 and 4 damage.

The two archers, 1 attack on the archers, he takes 6 damage and has 1 hp left.

5 attacks on the Light Horsemen. 3 hits, for 4, 3, and 4 damage. 2 are Dead.

2 attacks on the Medium Horsemen for 3 damage, first one missed. Still alive.

2 attacks on Jedor by the Assistant Bugbears, AC 9/9, hits for 6 damage. 1 attack on Jacob, missed. 1 on Sapphira from the LEADER. She is hit and takes 7 damage.

Xrith hit for 15 damage. Lusia hit for 2 damage. Jacob hits for 19 and 14. Briiz misses. Lygan hit for 6. Archers missed with their melee weapons. Josalyn hits for 8. Oswald hit for 4 damage. Oswald gets on his horse. 1 Merc hits for 3 damage.

We are all in the holy aura. 2 of the Bugbears were killed. One Mercenary horse flees. Lygans horse flees.

• Sapphira can have her mount fight unmounted.
• Jedor will attack.
• Xrith will mount up and get into melee.
• Lusia attacks.
• Horsemen are attacking.
• Oswald attacks.
• Lygan attacks.

We win the initiative.

Xrith hits AC 3/3 the leader for 5 damage. Jacob hits for 8. Sapphira hits for 4. Jedor hits for 4. Jacob's hippogriff hit for 2, 6 Archer hit for 1 damage.

Mount attacks from Shadow after 1. Lusias horses hit for 5 and 8. NVM. Shadow hits.

We have killed 5 so far, 23 are left. The leader is still alive.

1 attack on Jedor, missed! 1 attack on Xrith, missed! 1 on Jacob, missed! 1 on Lusia, missed! 4 on Lygan, AC 7/9, 3 hits for 5, 5 and 7. 17 damage. He is at 8! 1 on Oswald, missed! 5 on the Light Horsemen, AC 5/5, AC 9/9, 1 hit and 2 hits, 5, 4, and 6 damage. ALL DEAD! 3 on the Archers. Archers are Missed! 2 on Light Horsemen, 1 hit for 6 damage, 1 is Killed! 5 on Medium Horsemen, 3 hits, 3, 8 and 5 damage. 1 is Killed.

2 Subchiefs, 1 on Sapphira - Misses! 1 on Archer, misses! 1 on Xrith, he is hit for 5 damage.

• Jedor attacks
• Sapphira attacks.
• Xrith goes after the leader and yells out in Goblin to “attack us”
• Jacob ignores the leader and goes for regular ones.
• Lusia attacks.
• Lygan fighting retreat.
• Oswald attacks.

Archers must roll Morale. They are safe!

All of our troops hold fast!

Xriths mount hit for 5 damage.

Archers missed.

A bunch of people hit.

We killed 2 more Bugbears, Leader is still up. 1 more Bugbear is killed.

23 of the original 32 are alive. THEY MUST CHECK MORALE.

1 on Oswald, misses. 2 on Sapphira, misses. 2 on Jedor, both hit for 4 and 6 damage. 2 on Jacob 1 on Briiz, hits for 6 damage. 1 on Lusia, takes 2 damage. 1 on Lygan, breaks out to a separate melee, he did 7 damage to the Bugbear, it hits and Lygan takes 5 damage. 1 on Josalyn, AC 5/9, she takes 2 damage. 1 on Oswald, hits for 2 damage. 1 on Oswald, hits for 8 damage. 1 on the archers, missed! 4 on the horsemen, 1 missed and 1 is DEAD! 1 on purple is missed!

Jacob attacks again, hits for 15 damage, KILLS ANOTHER ONE!

1 on Jedor, hits and takes 6 damage, he is UNCONSCIOUS! 1 on Horseman, missed.

Leader on Xrith, it hits he takes 7 damage.

• MELEE ATTACKS FOR ALL.

Lygan misses. He is hit exactly for 5 damage, at -2! He is UNCONSCIOUS!

THE LEADER IS KILLED BY XRITH! After 10 damage this round.

Archer hit for 5. Oswald hit for 7 and 2.

Morale check at the top of the round, leader was not dead.

They keep fighting on! Lygan is down after all.

1 on Medium Horseman takes 5 damage. Jedor is at -1 hp.

Sapphira is hit for 6 damage. 3 on Xrith AC 6/9, 1 hit for 6 damage.

1 on Jacob misses. 1 on Briiz, misses. 1 on Oswald, miss. 1 on Archer, miss. 1 on Shadow, hit for 7 damage. 1 on Oswald, hits for 8 damage. 1 on Archer, misses. 1 Light Horsemen, is KILLED! None left. 1 Medium Horsemen is missed. 1 on Sapphira, missed!

MORALE CHECK FOR THE NEXT ROUND.

Xrith targets one of the subchiefs.

Jacob hits one for 9 before everyone. Only 18 left.

THEY WILL FIGHT ON!!!

They won the initiative.

2 on Xrith takes 5 and 4 for 9 total damage.

Josalyn is missed. 5 attacks on the Archers 2 hits. for 5 damage! He has 2 hp and the other has 1 hp.

Xrith hit for 12 Sapphira hits for 5 Jacob hits for 8 Xrith's horse bit for 2

We hit quite a few. Archers missed.

12 regular bugbears and 2 assisstants.

MORALE CHECK.

We win the initiative. THEY FAIL THEIR MORALE CHECK.

They are fleeing.

WE WILL DO MELEE ATTACKS AND FLEEING ATTACKS NEXT TIME!

Lygan and Jedor are on bedrest.