Post by Dungeon Master on Nov 2, 2016 11:07:02 GMT -8
From Morrick Mansion, the party joined with a Caravan which was traveling along the great caravan road. Their ultimate destination was an outpost called Zelkor's Ferry, which was the last place of civilization before the dungeon Rappan Athuk.
The caravan was large enough to basically travel without incident, save for a massive Red Dragon which flew well above but across the caravan, possibly to let them know of its' presence or that they were ultimately insignificant to the dragon. One of the caravan guards confided a rumor he had heard... that the Dragon seeks to gather a reputation of its' own... that eating a caravan of nobody guards wasn't worthwhile, but that once he (or possibly the PCs) had made a name for themselves, and attracted the fame that goes with it... the Dragon would consider them worthy, as slaying mighty heroes would add to its' prestige.
Needless to say, the PCs were not exactly happy with idea.
The caravan guards each had a story about the Dungeon of Graves (taken from the free Player's Guide to Rappan Athuk), which they shared with the group over several weeks of travel.
Eventually they were even (on the road) with Rappan Athuk (which was well to the east), but the road continued on northward to a river, and from there the caravan would follow the river to Zelkor's Ferry. The nominal leader of the party Ulric (Psychic Warrior 2 | Cleric 2) wanted to abandon the caravan and head overland towards the dungeon, as that was where the Priest of Orcus likely resided. Rommel (Paladin|Bard) wanted to head to Zelkor's Ferry, to see what was available there and to reconoiter the area. The party ended up in favor of heading directly to the dungeon from this point.
They managed to acquire the services of several of the guards from the Caravan (which did not make them all that popular with the merchants of the Caravan), by paying wages in Gold Pieces per day that the caravan had been offering in Silver Pieces per day.
The first day off of the road was relatively quiet, but the ups and downs of the trip was hard on the PCs wagon (the Rogue and Paladin|Bard wanted to haul everything found, until they managed to find/convince someone to pay more than 100% value for each item... so they were hauling everything possible)...
Several Stirges attacked in the night; the sentries were their hired guards (who didn't have stellar perception bonuses); the Stirges did coup-de-grace attacks on sleeping targets (determined randomly). One PC (the Monk|Ranger archer) had one attack him, while Rommel had a few attach themselves to him. The sleeping guards did not fair particularly well.
The Stirges were battled off, but most were not slain... so there was the looming threat that they would return at some point in the next several nights for another feeding.
The NPC guards basically disappeared the next morning, except for one who was basically almost dead... Two of the PCs had Mythic 'Cure Light Wounds' which is capable of restoring Ability Damage.. (the Rogue replacement... Rogue 02 | Fighter 01 / Cleric 01) and the Healer replacement (Paladin 2 | Oracle 2).
The next day, around noon, a pair of Trolls came across the party... one member was able to understand their banter, about catching a yummy hummy and having him for breakfast. The Trolls were especially nasty, given the level of the party... they likely were in well over their heads. In the end, one of the Trolls was wounded and the other was slain (temporarily... Regeneration was still going), when the party decided to let the living troll go (with their almost dead / unconscious last NPC guard). The other Troll waking up, but obviously more interested in Breakfast on a Yummy Hummy than in battle against armied Little Uns that hurt them, kind of helped sway their decision.
A small pack of (2) Dire Wolves (semi-intelligent) with (6) normal wolves... were encountered just prior to reaching the main road again. The wolves basically went for the closest person, unless someone were to hit them too hard. The Dire Wolves made more intelligent decisions and went after the PCs that were more dangerous to them.
Lanet (Rogue 3), the halfling henchman, fell in this battle while trying to tumble around one of the Dire Wolves, as he was seeking a flank position. The battle wasn't easy, but it ended with a win for the PCs rather than letting Trolls run off with their hired hand.
The caravan was large enough to basically travel without incident, save for a massive Red Dragon which flew well above but across the caravan, possibly to let them know of its' presence or that they were ultimately insignificant to the dragon. One of the caravan guards confided a rumor he had heard... that the Dragon seeks to gather a reputation of its' own... that eating a caravan of nobody guards wasn't worthwhile, but that once he (or possibly the PCs) had made a name for themselves, and attracted the fame that goes with it... the Dragon would consider them worthy, as slaying mighty heroes would add to its' prestige.
Needless to say, the PCs were not exactly happy with idea.
The caravan guards each had a story about the Dungeon of Graves (taken from the free Player's Guide to Rappan Athuk), which they shared with the group over several weeks of travel.
Eventually they were even (on the road) with Rappan Athuk (which was well to the east), but the road continued on northward to a river, and from there the caravan would follow the river to Zelkor's Ferry. The nominal leader of the party Ulric (Psychic Warrior 2 | Cleric 2) wanted to abandon the caravan and head overland towards the dungeon, as that was where the Priest of Orcus likely resided. Rommel (Paladin|Bard) wanted to head to Zelkor's Ferry, to see what was available there and to reconoiter the area. The party ended up in favor of heading directly to the dungeon from this point.
They managed to acquire the services of several of the guards from the Caravan (which did not make them all that popular with the merchants of the Caravan), by paying wages in Gold Pieces per day that the caravan had been offering in Silver Pieces per day.
The first day off of the road was relatively quiet, but the ups and downs of the trip was hard on the PCs wagon (the Rogue and Paladin|Bard wanted to haul everything found, until they managed to find/convince someone to pay more than 100% value for each item... so they were hauling everything possible)...
Several Stirges attacked in the night; the sentries were their hired guards (who didn't have stellar perception bonuses); the Stirges did coup-de-grace attacks on sleeping targets (determined randomly). One PC (the Monk|Ranger archer) had one attack him, while Rommel had a few attach themselves to him. The sleeping guards did not fair particularly well.
The Stirges were battled off, but most were not slain... so there was the looming threat that they would return at some point in the next several nights for another feeding.
The NPC guards basically disappeared the next morning, except for one who was basically almost dead... Two of the PCs had Mythic 'Cure Light Wounds' which is capable of restoring Ability Damage.. (the Rogue replacement... Rogue 02 | Fighter 01 / Cleric 01) and the Healer replacement (Paladin 2 | Oracle 2).
The next day, around noon, a pair of Trolls came across the party... one member was able to understand their banter, about catching a yummy hummy and having him for breakfast. The Trolls were especially nasty, given the level of the party... they likely were in well over their heads. In the end, one of the Trolls was wounded and the other was slain (temporarily... Regeneration was still going), when the party decided to let the living troll go (with their almost dead / unconscious last NPC guard). The other Troll waking up, but obviously more interested in Breakfast on a Yummy Hummy than in battle against armied Little Uns that hurt them, kind of helped sway their decision.
A small pack of (2) Dire Wolves (semi-intelligent) with (6) normal wolves... were encountered just prior to reaching the main road again. The wolves basically went for the closest person, unless someone were to hit them too hard. The Dire Wolves made more intelligent decisions and went after the PCs that were more dangerous to them.
Lanet (Rogue 3), the halfling henchman, fell in this battle while trying to tumble around one of the Dire Wolves, as he was seeking a flank position. The battle wasn't easy, but it ended with a win for the PCs rather than letting Trolls run off with their hired hand.