Campaign Log

Last Wednesday at Pawn & Pint we began the session at the new location (613 Walnut) and we saw other new happenings.

Pawn & Pint now has food and drinks (including adult beverages) and the party has a new member.

We pick up the action again at the abandoned keep. The Senzar were driven away and many citizens of Cothel were rescued from the basement of the keep, where the Senzar had set fires so that the prisoners would die if the party had not intervened.

As the peasants were deciding that they may be safer in the woods and away from the location where the Senzar had held them, a middle-aged man approaches the keep, having been drawn in by the smoke that was billowing up through a couple of the remaining towers. The man appears unarmed aside from a walking staff.

The man introduces himself as Quai Losh, a simple man who prefers the quiet and solitude of the mountains to reflect upon the great meanings of life and of Felis. The party, seeing his obvious Cothel heritage, accept him into their midst.

Howl, wanting to search the keep for a glass eye (or other valuables) doesn’t want the place to burn down. He knows the greasy substance he is able to call for does not burn, and so he uses that to smother the fires in the basement. However, his other searching does not find much beyond a couple of dead Senzar on the second floor where they appeared to die from Gemma’s use of the exploding rock.

With the night half over, they decide to make a camp on the second floor in the northern room with the chimney. The room has the dead Senzar and is exposed to the outside where the building had been destroyed. Howl intends to call forth his hut; however, he is exhausted from spell casting and must sit down to perform a ritual. He gathers everyone around (save for Wilby who is off scouting the surrounding area) so that they will be inside when the casting is complete.

When he is partially done with the ritual, a ball of fire envelops the party. The blistering heat scorches everyone. Quai reacts the fastest and sees a man hovering forty-feet off the ground and sixty-feet away. The monk runs out the east door and toward the northeast stairwell. Rowan shoots his bow, striking the flying Senzar, but the mage does not fall and so Rowan moves out of sight of the mage, following Quai out the door.

Unferth, also without an effective range weapon follows Quai to the stairwell, rushing to the first floor.

Gemma tries to blast the warlock with her crackling energy while Howl tries to suck his life away, unfortunately for them both, neither one strikes the man. Gemma holds her ground while Howl runs out the southern door of the room, almost falling due to the unstable section of the building.

Ishen moves to follow Quai and Rowan. Once out of sight of the Senzar, she heals those around her using Felis’ blessings.

The Senzar, annoyed that none of the party died, returns Gemma’s crackling energy, striking Gemma with a painful blow. Fortunately for her, she did not die.

Quai rushes across the first floor toward the northwest tower while Unferth cuts a line toward the open air where he can see the Senzar. Rowan ducks back into the room and fires another shot with his bow, but misses the Senzar. Gemma, still in the room misses a second time with her energy blast. However, Howl, in the southern room, manages to draw life from the Senzar, causing the mage to move higher into the air and over the top of the keep.

Quai rushes up the northwestern tower to try and get a height advantage while Rowan, moves to descend the northeastern tower to the first floor.

Unferth, filled with rage that the Senzar just won’t die, calls out a curse on the man and continues to chase him on the ground, this time moving along the southern side of the keep.

Gemma, knowing the Senzar is flying over the keep, stays on the second floor, but moves to a window on the east side to watch.

Howl, is less fortunate and his attempt to go to the edge of the broken floor meets with disaster and he slips, falling to his expected death, but he manages at the last moment to misty step his way to safety (on the roof, so that he can continue to track the Senzar, the party wasn’t sure that was a move to safety).

The Senzar mage is moving quickly and is starting to drop so he can take cover on the east side of the keep.

Quai, Rowan, and Unferth continue to chase after the man. Gemma prepares to blast the man if she sees him. Howl is currently the only one with a shot and he attempts to draw life again from the man, and for the second time, he succeeds.

The Senzar attempts to burn Howl in flames, but Howl draws away the mage’s magic and the Senzar continues to move east, dropping into Gemma’s view. This time she slams him with crackling energy and the mage drops to the ground and out of sight in the darkness of the night.

Quai, no longer able to see the mage, jumps from the top of the tower to the roof of the keep. On the ground, Rowan is startled by the sudden appearance of three soldiers who all attempt to strike him. Luck is with Rowan as two of the three miss and Rowan manages to hit one of his attackers with his sword. However, three on one does not look like good odds.

Unferth, no longer able to see the Senzar mage, hears conflict back the way he had come from and rushes back to see what he can do.

Howl, hearing the commotion moves to the edge of the roof and sees Rowan in trouble. Expanding the last of his ability to call for grease, he manages to force two of Rowan’s attackers to the ground.

Quai, taking advantage of his position flings some darts at Rowan’s attackers, hitting with one dart and missing with another. Rowan does more damage with his sword. Unferth, hoping to reach his friend is brought up short as two more soldiers appear out of thin air, both of which strike him with the swords.

Unferth uses his axe to render one of his attackers into multiple pieces.

Quai uses his martial abilities and uses the wall near the northwest town to easily drop from the roof to the ground. When he is again on sturdy footing, he flings another pair of darts at one of Rowan’s attackers.

Rowan misses the man he tried to attack, but Unferth, after taunting the second man, delivers good on his threats, letting the man die where his parts land.

Gemma, having moved to get a good view of the events from the opening on the second floor, uses her energy to deliver yet another finishing blow. Howl, not aware Gemma had killed the man, sucks away any chance the man would recover and not die.

Quai, having moved closer to the last man around Rowan, swings his staff with lightning speed, attempting four blows in a single breath. However, only a single blow hits the mark and the man is driven back, causing Rowan to also miss and allowing Unferth to remove the soldier’s head.

Battered, burned, and bruised, this time they decide to form the hut on the first floor where there is a little more cover. In the morning, they get up and scout out the body of the Senzar mage. However, they find he did not die. There were a few tracks near where he fell, but nothing of substance.

With Wilby’s help (he had come back after the battle concluded), they discover the mage had transported himself at least 500 feet to the north of the keep and took off into the night. The party, wanting to eliminate as many Senzar as they could, pursued the man. They traveled for about half a day when they come across some marks scratched in the ground.

Wilby avoids the marks and scouts out further, coming back to join the party, which by this time, Howl has convinced Unferth to duplicate the marks in the ground so that he can try to translate them at a safe distance. Using his powers to bring into being things that are not there, Howl attempts to even out Unferth’s marks to try and create words that his uncanny sense will be able to make sense of.

Suddenly the ground heaves up and starts to grow into a form. Unferth, The Wise, moves a safe distance away. Quai, who had been watching Howl’s work, takes a solid blow to the face as a massive mound of rock, dirt, and clay smacks him and Howl.

Howl, realizing self-preservation is better than death, misty steps away and creates multiple images of himself to confuse the ground that has come to life.

Gemma, Rowan, Ishen, and Wilby (all also wise) remain at a distance. Gemma throws energy at the creature, blowing off chunks of soil.

Quai, startled by something so unusual, reacted last, though he unleashes a flurry of blows with staff, though only one seems to have dislodged any of the creature’s parts.

Unferth, seeing similarities to the watery being they fought, moves forward and buries his axe into the mound of dirt twice.

The rock creature (which someone in the party immediately named) reached out and struck both Quai and Unferth, delivering stunning damage.

Howl, from a safe distance, reached out to suck life from the ground, which should not normally have life, while Gemma blasts it a second time with her beam of energy.

Rowan, having nearly drowned when he dealt with the watery beast, remained a safe distance and prepared to dodge away if the creature should come at him.

Quai, having settled into a rhythm, struck the creature four times, knocking rocks and dirt aside with three of his blows.

Unferth, a furry of blows himself, buried his axe into the mound twice more, but then suddenly, the mass of stone and rock drops into the ground and moves toward Gemma, Rowan, and Ishen.

Howl and Gemma use their powers, trying to reach into the ground to harm the creature moving beneath the surface. Rowan also attempts to stab the ground while Quai uses his mental prowess to heal the bruises in his body.

Unferth, filled with rage, slams his axe into the ground and tries to reach his hand into the narrow hole to grab the rock monster. His reward is the creature bursting froth and smacking him and Rowan with solid blows.

Howl draws more life from the creature and in classic form, Gemma blasts the creature with her energy, delivering the killing blow, leaving a pile of rock and debris in the middle of the path.