Session 2: August 15, 2023 The Taking of Weatherstone (4th Day of Springrise, 1165 AS)

Session 2: August 15, 2023 (4th Day of Springrise, 1165 AS)

Dramatis Personae:

• Echo, Wolfkin Hunter, played by Mike "The Doorstop" P.
• Kelter Tealeaf, Halfling Rogue, played by Mike "Long Jump" Y.
• Vinny Boombatz, Dwarven Fighter, played by Eric "Black Friday Shopper" M.

Quod Occurrit:

Morning Questioning and Investigation

The party interrogated Brother Ferebald, who stated that his only concern was killing Algarod, whose undead was form he considered to be an abomination. He agreed to accompany the party, as their goals coincided for the time being.

Echo decided he wanted to quickly re-investigate the ravine with the chests. They hauled one up that was more intact than most, but discovered no hidden compartment within, but they did discover a very large feather. Echo had never seen one quite so large and concluded that it was from no natural beast. Upon further examination Brother Ferebald decided it was a Harpy feather, which explained the paltry findings within the chests, as Harpies like shiny things, and likely made off with the bulk of the treasure.

Paying the Piper

Moving on past the lab where they defeated the man-scorpion-beast-thingy, they came to a large tower with an inner mezzanine spiralling up the inside for a few stories. Shafts of morning sunlight caused dust floating in the air to glow, and the party noticed the roof had long since collapsed. Looking up, the party saw large shapes flying above, and heard the squawks coming out of the shadows high above. These squawks soon became voices demanding "toll" and "shiny" or "we'll eat you". Echo reasoned that his mirror was shiny enough, and a Harpy flew off with it, but they demanded coins as well. In a fit of pique, Brother Ferebald tossed in some coins as well to round out the party's offering. He was focused on nothing but destroying Algarod and did not expect to survive the attempt. 

Kelter's Wax Wings

Having avoided a potentially difficult fight, the party continued on past the Harpies into the outside balustrade which curved around towards the gatehouse that supported a second drawbridge which was mostly raised. From that vantage point they thought they saw Dalb walking away in the distance. Kelter didn't really see the gap as that as much of a problem, nor was he dissuaded by the 25 metre drop to the gully floor below. He promptly tied himself off to Vinny and took a running jump with the intention of catching one of the many protuberances on the other side. This would have gone great had he succeeded on his roll, which he did not. That failure could have then been saved by successfully pushing his roll. While he did indeed push the roll, the roll was still a failure, and caused damage to his Agility. According to the adventure, the missed MOVE roll could be salvaged by the jumper making another MOVE roll to catching something, anything, before becoming a haemoglobin pancake on the rocks below, so he rolled one last time...

and succeeded. 

Kelter had managed to expertly catch some bent metal hanging from the bottom of the drawbridge, and was for the moment, safe. Unfortunately, he couldn't manage to find a way out of his predicament and was stuck, essentially hanging on to the drawbridge while tied to Vinny on the opposite side. Vinny and Echo then had an idea, and suggested attaching a weight to the rope that Kelter could then gather up and try using as a makeshift grappling hook to climb to safety. Vinny managed to find enough scrap metal lying around to fashion an actual grappling hook which was surprisingly sturdy. Kelter gathered up the rope and expertly tossed it up and over the bridge and it held! He was chanelling his inner Luke Skywalker, apparently. Climbing up was hard, but after another pushed roll and damaged Agility, he was able to scramble up and lower the drawbridge for his companions, looking very much worse for wear as he jumped up and down, using his small weight to push the drawbridge the last few inches into into place.

Showdown in Algarod's Tower

The party then found themselves in another large tower, much more intact than the last one. Knowing that he was likely going to run into Esgar, Kelter disguised himself somewhat, just in case. Echo smelled fresh blood as they neared the top of the staircase. What they found was two of the bandits bleeding out on the floor, with Esgar reaching into the bed at the far side of the room. Sadly the party was not very stealthy, and was not able to surprise Esgar, and all hell broke loose.

Echo let loose an arrow at Esgar, but failed to penetrate his armour. Then, the undead form of Algarod sat up in his bed and let out a horrific roar. This attack was too much for the already battered Kelter, whose Wits were broken by the attack. In terror, he fled combat and ran back down the stairs, into the fresh air outside the tower, as he had just become claustrophobic. 

Vinny then charged Algarod and Esgar, attacking them both in one movement, dealing heavy damage to Esgar, and then pushing his roll to inflict damage on Algarod, himself, and his own longsword, damaging it into uselessness. Seeing his foe before him, Brother Ferebald immolated the remaining dried blood within the king, doing solid damage. Echo noticed that reinforcements were coming for Algarod, namely skeleton guards starting to bash through a side door, and ran to hold the door shut and reinforce it as best he could. He reasoned that more would be coming up the stairs soon.

 Esgar, still obsessed with Algarod, attacked the king and did enough damage to break him. Echo expressed his thanks by breaking Esgar with a lethal arrow shot to an arm artery, dropping Esgar and causing him to start bleeding out.

Seeing that his foe was vanquished, Brother Ferebald simply turned about and left, intending to leave the party to their fates. They protested that since they saved his life, he should at least make sure Kelter was safe before leaving, and he acquiesced. 

Downstairs, Kelter was busy hyperventilating until Brother Ferebald managed to restore a point of Wits to him (GM fiat), and they worked to get an old winch working to get out of the castle safely.

Shopping Spree

Vinny then noticed the king's bed was unusual, and that it appeared to have some kind of storage built into the frame. Echo bashed it open slightly, hoping the door would hold the skeletons at bay long enough to investigate, but they were unable to see anything within through such a small opening. Rather than investigate the final resting place of a literal undead king, our "heroes" decided to go shopping, with Vinny grabbing Algarod's sword, Esgar's sword and shield his own sword, and Echo stripping Esgar of his mail armour. In a surprising act of compassion, they dragged the bleeding bandits with them to safety.

It's a Long Way to the Bottom (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)

Now next to the winch, they find it is stuck, but Kelter quickly gets it working again. They start ferrying people down. Shortly after, with only Vinny and Ferebald remaining, skeletons pour out towards the winch. With the assistance of arrow fire from Echo below, Vinny, armed with Algarod's sword Rustbite, and Ferebald (surprisingly) strike true and take out the skeletons and scramble down to safety.

Aftermath

The party, now safe but battered and bruised, hole up in the tower in which they met Dalb. Brother Ferebald went on his way, and the party rested and tended to the wounds of the bandits while relieving them of coin in exchange for saving them from certain death at the hands of the skeleton guards. They did not complain too much, as that was better than being dead. They decide to rest until morning.