Session 26 - Near-Death From above

Mon 26th Oct 19:45 - 22:45

In-game timeline: Marpenoth 26 - Marpenoth 26 DR1489

Our "Heroes" awake from a night's rest - interrupted for some, restful for others.

After a hearty breakfast - they are in no hurry, after all - Drogan leads the way, following the trail left from the fleeing humanoid from the previous night. The trail led to a small clearing in the woods, where there was a camp of around 6 tents, many only makeshift ones, with two people cooking on a campfire. Devon and Drogan managed to stay out of sight, whilst Dwarrow and Alwaith approached the camp and greeted the two, one female human and one male dwarf.

During the course of the conversation, Devon was spotted and had to pretend that he had got separated from the group. Drogan managed to stay hidden. Another member of the new group was also wandering in the woods and was spotted by our party, and he too joined the now 6-fold group in the campsite. The new group also mentioned that there was a fourth, who was off fishing somewhere.

Alwaith and Dwarrow, and later Devon, ate some soup and drank some tea with the campers, who were a previous set of adventurers sent to the island to help recapture the Abbey from the evil Clerics of Shar. They had lost so many of their group in the dunes that they didn't feel able to continue with their quest and are looking to get off the island. The dead halfling female, Joy, was one of their party and was trying to find a route through the dunes when she was killed - news that came as a disappointment to the campers. Alwaith shared with them their route through the dunes, though he added that the route is not perfect and that it does encounter some skeleton groups. Although our party mistrusted this group, and knew that some of the information they were told was not entirely true (so, similar to the lies that our "Heroes" told in return, then), they had no reason to attack them (since when does that usually stop them?!) so they bade the group farewell and headed away from the camp.

The group of campers mentioned that there were slaves still in the quarry to the east, and our "Heroes", after some debate, decided to head there to see if they could get more information from the slaves. Not to rescue them, or help them, or even to see if they may need medical aid. But hey, they may have some useful info.

The quarry looked deserted. Abandoned and broken carts lay by the tracks, and dark tunnels headed into the hillside. Whilst the rest of the party debated how, and if, to head down into the quarry, Drogan wandered down by himself, calling out into each tunnel as he passed them. After receiving no answer in many tunnels, he was a little surprised when suddenly a ragged, semi-naked, straggly-haired woman rushed from the darkness and launched herself at Drogan, all the while screaming. Drogan easily brushed her aside and threw her to the ground, knocking her unconscious. As she started to bleed out, a human male emerged, hands held in the air, before he ran to the fallen woman, cradling her body in his arms. Dwarrow ran to them and immediately healed her with a spell.

The man, Bart, was grateful to Dwarrow for saving his wife, Helen, and explained about 'his' group - 9 slaves, but only 7 of them here, who used to be forced to mine for chinz crystals in the quarry, though no one has forced them to work since the pirates invaded some months ago. This group is all that is left of the previous slaves, with many of them killed by pirates or clerics, or by the undead in the dunes. They also mentioned that some of their number have been picked off by harpies that live on the island.

One of the members of the slave group turned out to be an ex-shipmate of Drogan named Gaver “Ropey” Wraithrock (after whom "Ropey" the rope is undoubtedly named) and Drogan was uncharacteristically moved to kindness by his presence here, donating some of his rations to the group (well, to the dwarves in the group, anyway). They also mentioned that a young girl, Clarice, had, a number of days ago and without her father, Bart's, permission, taken a large chinz crystal that she had recently found in the mine to the abbey to try to trade it for some food. She has not returned. Once they discovered she had gone, another member of the group, a dwarf named Hosgrun Rockseeker, went to look for her but he hasn't returned either.

Our "Heroes" promised to return to the slaves and to rescue them after they had taken on the clerics, and also vowed to look out for Clarice and Hosgrun. They then set off towards the Abbey.

After an hour or so walking on the northern path, the group spot a group of harpies attacking an elvish woman who was crouching by a seemingly motionless body, trying to fight off the flying creatures who appeared to be dive-bombing her. Our "Heroes" leapt into action, suddenly deciding to become chivalrous. They launched some ranged attacks at the harpies, but then Devon and Dwarrow became entranced by the songs of the harpies and started to run towards them. The charm didn't last long, however, and before long all four of our party were attacking the five harpies who, in turn, attacked back.

Drogan took a hit from the harpies as he ran to help the elf, and Dwarrow launched a Silence spell in that area to try to ensure the harpies' singing couldn't affect Drogan and the elf, and to provide an area of protection from the harpies' songs. However, at that moment the female elf suddenly rose up, sprouted wings and her face changed to a grotesque visage, and she lifted into the air, trying to escape the zone of silence that enveloped her, and swooped down to attack Dwarrowsteel, who was just outside of the silent area. Many of her other brood also joined in the attack on poor Dwarrow, following the lead of their Matriarch. One, however, close to death, started to fly away to tend her wounds. 

Our party put up a good fight, taking out one of the harpies, and causing the matriarch (who was the one impersonating the elf) considerable damage. But Dwarrow took the brunt of the attack, with hits from the harpies and the matriarch all landing on him. When Alwaith managed to finish off the Matriarch with a hex-based invocation that he had kept hidden for weeks, if not months, the other harpies were enraged and launched a final attack on Dwarrow, including the one that was in the process of escaping. Dwarrow was downed by the onslaught, and, whilst unconscious, the last harpy to attack managed to score a hit on him taking him to the very brink of death. Luckily her final attack on his unconscious body, which would have killed him outright if it hit, managed to miss, enabling Devon to use a potion of healing on the incapacitated cleric and bring him back to life as three of the harpies flew away, leaving only the one who had previously returned to face the wrath of the group. The party managed to take down this stranded harpy but the other three were able to fly out of range behind the hills to the north.

Reeling from the near-death experience of Dwarrow, the group rallied around, Alwaith proudly claiming all the kills, and showing how uninjured he was as Dwarrow struggled back into the land of the living. They had to rest - many spells were exhausted and Dwarrow needed to heal, so they rested for an hour - the others keeping a close eye on the skies to watch for returning harpies, but the party was undisturbed during the rest. The body on the ground was indeed the dwarf they had promised to look out for, Hosgrun Rockseeker - identified by the remains of his "Rockseekers" tattoo just decipherable on his harpy-pecked arm.  There was no sign of the human child, Clarice.

And there we left our "Heroes", reminded a little of their mortality. They had fought off the harpies, but were aware that some were still out there, still enraged at the loss of their Matriarch. What more could this Island throw at them? They hadn't even reached the Abbey yet!