The Recap
Flick Takes out the Ants
Flick the gnome illusionist procured a potent gaseous poison in Aearvir from the local assassin guild, which cost many hundreds of gp and almost a week of preparation. Combined with his PISS bomb (designed and built over a year ago), his plan is to use this weapon against a colony of giant ants. In exchange for this exterminating the ants, Flick will be trained to level up by the master of Manor d'Lorne. After a couple of days of searching for the giant ant nest they find it. Evading giant ant workers they plant a time-delayed gas bomb within some tasty ant snacks and wait. The ants find the food and begin to transport it within the colony below.
After an hour of waiting, the ants reappear. They seem to be randomly moving, confused. Flick orders his henchman to take a squad of hirelings down into the lair. They are told to avoid a fight but to try and find the queen's chamber and assess what the damage is. They return in an hour with news that the queen was killed along with many workers. The ants seem to be "disconnected" and unorganized. Additionally, the henchman has returned with a clutch of potions and gems!
Once back at the manor, Flick pays for some quick identification, buying up multiple 100gp pearls where he can. Unfortunately, the 2 magic users who can cast identify cannot handle the rigors of more than a couple of castings. One potion of the 6 remains unknown.
Surrender of Iksburg Castle
The army of Aearvir surrounds the castle of Iksburg, and for a couple of days the defenders hold out. They ask for parlay, claiming to have the van Iksburg family as hostage. The clan chief/mercenary Hafdir offers the castle in exchange for title. Aearavir refuses, and the next day Hafdir and his gang flee. The van Iksburgs are dead, it is rumored.
Ixnay with the Estionsquay
Franz remains in Aearvir in his quest to find out the mysterious "F" who sent the gift of healing potions. After a week of asking questions he's visited by a goon who suggests he quit his quest. If he did not stop, the goon threaten to punch all of his teeth out of his face. Franz decides to stop, for now.
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| The goon. |
The Running Man
More players arrived and the group decides to persue a last-minute mission mentioned by Master Huldor, the wizard of Oblemay Tower. Huldor mentioned the evil Baron Skivan and the Stormbringers and the Nighthawks marked him for capture. They spend a week doing basic homework about the Baron and learn a couple of interesting things. First, the Baron has 5 identical bodyguards.
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| The baron's bodyguards. |
The players find out that in town there are bards that tell tales about the previous winners. Of course they have winners, they left town and set up shop with their winnings. Posters are put up around town by the Baron showing previous winner and what they did with the money. Everyone agrees this has happened if asked.
One of the players manages to ask a servant what they think of the Baron. The servant confirms the Baron is evil but he's not as bad as the Tryant Cadelo (another local ruler).
Meanwhile the players observe one of these events. From a hidden point, they see that at least one of the bodyguards actually leaps out of the saddle and flies! This causes another round of debate and planning.
The players draw up an elaborate ambush plan, and then begin to move their 100+ force of missile troops and spearmen into prepared positions along the contest path. The weak point of this plan becomes apparent - their man on the "inside", the contestant who is the lure of the trap, is a low-level thief Charillos!
The odds of evasion for the hour that Charillos must run come out to 90%, due to a very overcast weather determination. Still, if the evasion roll fails it's clear Charillos will be caught and likely killed in the ensuing encounter. The players roll a d100, and the result is a success! Panting with effort, Charillos comes over the last hill to where the players have dig pit traps and concealed firing positions. Three of the bodyguards are actually flying towards Charillos, eager to kill him before he escapes.
The combat kicks off! The distance is 160 yards from the bodyguards to the ambushers, but less than 120 yards to the running Charillos. There is a non-zero chance the ambush missile fire will be too late. The initiative is rolled, the players won! The players loose several dozen volleys of arrows, bolts, and sling bullets. All 3 of the bodyguards are riddled with hits, killing them a segment before they reach Charillos. The Baron and the others now appear on the hill. The Baron is surprised and now quite angry. "KILL THEM ALL!" he orders.
The Baran on one of the bodyguards (on horseback) fall into the pit trap/trench. The other bodyguard flies over Charillos, cutting him down to -1. Players kill the flying bodyguard, but now debate throwing their numerous fire bombs into the trench. They want the Baron alive, so they decide against this. They elect to close to grapple and subdue.
The remaining bodyguard emerges from the trench to be hit in the face arrows. The Baron is targeted with a color spray spell.This has no effect as the Baron makes his saving throw. The bodyguards then sleeps 9 of the oncoming spearmen! The Baron climbs out of the trench. Demands to surrender are given and the Baron shouts "YOU WILL NOT TAKE ME ALIVE!"
At this point dozens of men are converging to overbear/grapple. The Baron (a high-level fighter) proceed to kill or maim almost every attacker. The only success manages to stun the Baron, but he recovers the next round, and kills or wounds another dozen men with a heavy pick. The players do some quick man and realize this plan has a flaw. The Baron is proving too potent a warrior for hand-to-hand combat. The next adjustment is to simply pelt him with missile fire until the Baron is knocked out.
The Baron loses initiative, which means the players can direct missile fire at him before the Baron can close to the next group of soldiers and slay them. The Baron is finally dropped to unconsciousness. They strip him of gear and bind him and set off back for Oblemay Tower.
Master Huldor takes the Baron off his hands to be put into a place "of forgetting" and the promised reward is given, a supposed helm of telepathy. For Team Good, it seems, a powerful opponent was removed from the "game board".
Siege of the Gnome Fortress
In a surprise move, the necromancer of Burmstone, Kel, arrives near Aeravir with a large undead force to attack a huge force of gnomes threatening the flank of Aeravir. Once the front gates are identified and taken down, the mass of skeletons is directed to enter the fortress and start killing! After initial resistance, the first line of defenders is pushed back or slain. The imp familiar Gnublebb is sent down to offer "first hand observation" to the necromancer and his magic user assistant. The imp relays some tactical data continuously. However it soon becomes clear that this underground "lair" is actually an elaborate death trap!
The forward area of the "lair" is collapsed by the gnomes. The imp discovers min-tunnels (just snug for gnomes) that criss-cross the hallways. In human sized hallways, oil is dumped in and then set alight. Skeletons are destroyed in groups. Kel directs the undead to push into the mini tunnels. Despite magical assistance, the gnomes are still able to achieve a 1:1 kill/death ratio in the mini-tunnel openings. Will the gnomes break before the trapped skeletons are wiped out?
Turning to a couple of Aeravir city officials (who are there to asses the booty gained from sacking the gnome lair), Kel indicates that he needs to "take care of something" and dons his helmet, headed for the now-blocked lair entrance tunnel.
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