... charge of the golem knights ...
Our band continues to be...
Kalik, halfling initiate of Avoreen;
Vesper, (NPC) human fighter, henchman of Kalik;
Milik, halfling sorcerer;
Kendradell, female half-elf bard & initiate of Lydia;
Marcus, half-elf acolyte of Hieroneous;
Tarqualan, high elf mystic;
Nubo, gnome thief-psionicist;
Piotr, suloise human mercenary;
and finally;
Talon, dwur initiate of Clangeddin.
[27th of Flocktime, 579]
When we left off last week, the party had just defeated a trio of dragonnes that bled an oily black fluid instead of blood. Kendradell, driven by her curiosity, was attempting to gather a sample of the substance when it recoiled from her and began flowing back towards the main body of fluid leaking from the dragonne. Meanwhile Talon was lighting a torch in an attempt to see if the substance would burn - Tarqualan aided both, igniting Talon's torch with his magic and attempting to help herd the liquid towards Kendradell. In the end, the globule Ken' was attempting to collect rejoined the larger pool and began flowing towards the woods, while the pool Talon threatened with his torch rose up, exuded a tentacle, and slapped him for his trouble.
Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, the group elected to retreat, though Talon flung his torch at the oily black creature that has struck him - it recoiled from the fire and then moved off to join the other two pools as they flowed into the forest. As the party made it's way south along the main road, Milik sent his familiar back to spy on the pools, and it witnessed them flowing together to form an inky replica of a dragonne, which then flew rapidly south, quickly outpacing the group.
Riding well into the night brought the party at last to the village of Emridy, where they took rooms at the only inn and inquired after horses to replace those lost on the road. The innkeeper referred them to a horse breeder on the edge of town, and then bade them good night. Once up in their rooms, Piotr, Kalik, and Milik's evening reverie was disturbed by a strange sort of 'bed fairy' (as Kalik insisted it was) that had been lurking under Piotr's bed. Said fairy made the mistake of insulting one of Kalik's heroes in the local area, prompting a strange conversation that finally devolved into the fairy insisting that it was in the wrong room, and was supposed to be spying on the trio across the hall.
After tying the fairy up, the rest of the group was alerted to it's presence, and most of them squeezed into the room to help question it. What almost no one noticed was that the fairy had somehow slipped it's bonds and was halfway out the window, but a quick swipe of Marcus' axe knocked it aside, allowing Kendradell to grab it's hair, Kalik it's feet, and Talon to smack it with both the blade and the haft of his axe, which knocked the small creature unconscious. (in the case of the fairy, it did not bleed blood or oil, it merely lost chunks of itself, prompting Milik to suppose it was a sort of familiar like his own).
All this noise roused the innkeeper, who came up to investigate the
noise, and after seeing the chaos that ensued to inquire if in fact the
party would be leaving the next day - so reassured, he returned to his
quarters. Milik used his sorcery to scan the nearby rooms, and learned
that the room across the hall did, in fact, house two halflings and a human,
just as the fairy had insisted, who proved to be a human priest of St.
Cuthbert named Tolson, and his two halfling associates, namely Larramie
& Xiteac. Guarded conversation with these worthies helped identify
the 'fairy' as a dust mephit (said mephit having died of it's
wounds by this time) and the cleric's destination as Hommlet. Tolson
was apparently being sent to check up on "Neidan's Folly" (as the Temple
of Elemental Evil Rededication Project had been dubbed) for his superiors
in Verbobonc.
Before parting ways for the night, however, Nubo questioned Tolson's presence at the inn, quite justifiably wondering why the cleric was staying in the inn when a small temple to his order existed on the outskirts of town. In the exchange between the two, however, Nubo identified himself as Tolson's "worst nightmare", which earned him a quick billet to the head; Nubo retaliated by attempting to blast Tolson psionically, which had little effect, and Tolson thereafter launched into a five minute diatribe admonishing Nubo for every real or imagined shortcoming he might possess to the amazement and edification of the rest of the group.
The next morning found Kalik and Tolson debating theology over breakfast,
while Nubo and Kendradell sallied forth to visit the horse breeder they'd
heard about. They returned several hours later with a horse for Kendradell
and a pony for Nubo, but the late start this detour forced upon them meant
that they'd have to camp at least once before they reached Hommlet the
following day. While the day's travel was uneventful, the second watch
of the evening was interrupted by the sound of hooves along the road. Marcus
and Piotr woke several members of the party before sneaking back towards
the road to investigate, where they
saw two massive horsemen, likely knights of some sort, astride to equally
massive horses. After casting about for something unseen, one of the horsemen
finally pointed directly at the party's camp, and both spurred their horses
into a gallop right towards the group...
Stepping out into the path, Marcus and Piotr both struck solid blows
against the armored horses the knights rode, but instead of blood (or oil)
they were rewarded only by a shower of sparks. The armored knights, once
within the circle of the party's camp, quickly dismounted, and one of the
knights reached down for Milik, who'd already had his leg crushed by the
initial attack of the knight's horse. Talon, who'd been among the last
to be awakened, was still struggling into his chainmail when the other
knight's sword struck off one of his legs at the knee. Marcus managed to
interpose himself between the other knight and Milik (the
second knight seemed more interested in Milik's pack (where the two
Meyanar gems were stored) than in finishing off the unconscious halfling.
For his trouble, Marcus was struck a heavy blow and knocked aside.
As the melee progressed, Tarqualan turned the sword of one of the knights
to rust, forcing it to batter at Marcus and Piotr with his iron fists.
The two massive war-horses struck at various members of the group, but
were dodged or avoided. When Kalik snuck up on the knight who'd maimed
Talon, his only reward was a massive chop from the knight that took one
of his own legs, and nearly his life. In the end, the tide was turned and
the knights and their mounts defeated, but at what cost? Three members
of the party lay not merely wounded, but grievously maimed. Kendradell
used her most potent magics to aid Milik (whose leg
had been crushed, not severed) and Kalik suggested that help for wounds
like his and Talon's might be found at a nearby halfling village (where
he hoped a shrine to Cyrrollalee would be present).
Another day's journey west brought them to Limni's Delve, a sprawling
community of halflings and gnomes. The shrine Kalik had hoped for did exist,
and it happened that Kalik's name and exploits had preceded him, in such
a light as to ensure that his wounds would be tended for free of charge,
and that his friend and servant Talon would be attended to as well, so
long as a suitable donation was forthcoming. While Kalik and Talon healed,
several members of the group attended the town meeting in
the hopes of being able to interview the Elders of the community seeking
further information. Several townsfolk expressed great concern over Milik,
who to their expectations behaved in a thoroughly un-hobnizlike manner,
and upon being informed that he was both an atheist -and- a sorcerer, collectively
shook their heads and prayed for his salvation.
As we ended the evening, Kalik and Talon were testing their freshly
regenerated limbs, and plans were being made to set course once more for
Hommlet. A quick exchange with Nikolai via the tablet they possessed gave
them some further information on other matters, the most telling of which
was that their erstwhile ally Mirella had allowed herself to be captured
by the Mablerodians, in a ploy to steal one of the gems they possessed...
her success at the plan left the balance two for Mirella
(and whoever her true master was), one for the true lord of the Temple,
and two in their own hands...
[2nd of Wealsun, 579]