Session 27 - Gladiators.... READY!

Mon 9th Nov 20:00 - 23:15

In-game timeline: Marpenoth 26 - Marpenoth 26 DR1489 (but about to LR which will last until Marpenoth 27)

We rejoin our "Heroes" after a luckily uneventful hour-long rest, keeping a constant eye out for avenging Harpies. With the sun getting lower in the sky, the group are keen to head on towards where they think the Abbey is located.

After another hour or so of walking through the low hills, they reach what looks like the Abbey - or at least the remains of it. A number of buildings, small and large, are scattered around a main 'plaza'. Some are in a good state of repair, others are little more than a ruin. They approach the area cautiously, using some of the tall growing crops in the nearby small fields for cover, though there seems to be no activity in the area.

Their cautious approach continued, with Devon sent to scout the small ruin closest to them. When he fails to appear for a while, the others decide to wander over to see what he was up to, and he promptly shows them some items that he has found hidden in the ruin, which seems to be an old temple dedicated to Chauntea, the Goddess of agriculture. They leave the golden icon of a sheaf of wheat and a rose in the hidden chest for later collection, whilst taking with them the journal / ledger they found, for possible later perusal, and the bag of seeds that was also hidden amongst the stored items.

As the light of the day started to fade, the party tried to move quickly but stealthily to scout out more of the nearby buildings. They find another abandoned building, in a state of disrepair, with what looked like a dry pool inside, a grubby stained glass window and pictures on the walls, though none of the group could work out what Goddess it was dedicated to.

Opposite this was a temple of dark stone, which had been boarded up from the outside. Dwarrow identified it as a temple to Myrkul, God of bones and death. Drogan managed to free up the doorway from its barricades, but the group decided not to enter, and instead to move on.

Behind this temple was another, this time one dedicated to a Benevolent God - Berronar. As a devout follower of Berronar herself, Dwarrowsteel recognised the temple straight away, and felt Blessed when he entered. The temple was structurally intact, but had been ransacked and the large, stone statue of Berronar had been toppled and its head broken off. Between them Drogan, Devon and Dwarrow righted the statue and put it back in its appointed place, and all received Inspiration for their efforts.

As dusk approached, the group looked for somewhere sensible to stay, and were conscious that resting now would 'waste' Dwarrow's Bless, as well as Alwaith's Hex. That's not to say, of course, that they went looking for a fight. But then again….

Heading further north into the complex they found another temple in a good state of repair. It also had windows, narrow and high up, that Devon took a look in by standing on Drogan's shoulders, taking great care not to flatten Drogan's mohican as he did so. He spotted a group of humanoids - a half-elf and two humans - playing cards at a table next to a lit brazier. Unfortunately one of them spotted Devon tottering on top of Drogan and the three humanoids ran towards the doorway, emerging just as Dwarrowsteel and Alwaith were waiting there.

The half-elf challenged Dwarrowsteel, asking what they were doing there. Dwarrowsteel, flustered, replied they was just 'exploring the island' as if that were a perfectly normal thing to do. The half-elf demanded to see their arms, which were covered by bracers/clothing, obviously looking for pirate tattoos. When our "Heroes" were unwilling to do this, and refused to lay down their weapons, the half-elf and two humans attacked, trying to press an advantage before the rest of the party arrived.

The battle was tough. The fight with the harpies had already drained the party of some spells and abilities, and these opponents were well-trained fighters. They pressed their advantage, aiming for what they saw to be the weaker members of the group, and the obvious spellcasters, rather than wasting hits against the stronger and more battle-focused members. For this reason Alwaith and Devon bore the brunt of the enemy's attacks. Longswords, shortswords and spears all managed to find their mark on numerous occasions, and Alwaith fell, a spear piercing his chest. After a failed Death Save, even though Alwaith used his inspiration to do so, Devon was forced to rush to Alwaith's aid. He managed to revive the warlock, but Devon was now in the line of fire of the deadly spear, and he fell straight away to some well-aimed spear thrusts. Alwaith, having been revived but only one hit away from falling again, used his invisibility spell to get away from the attacking fighter, and then cursed him, aiming to use his ranged attacks and hexes to take the fighter down.

Meanwhile the other two fighters were busy with Dwarrow and Drogan. A couple of wild swings of the longsword from one of the enemy exposed him to some heavy attacks from Drogan, and this fighter was eventually taken down by Dwarrow. The other one was missing many of his attacks, being put off by the floating spiritual weapon that was attacking him, as well as the cleric and the barbarian. Dwarrow had to break out of that fight to heal a now downed Devon, but could still leave his spiritual weapon behind to continue the fight, along with Drogan. Devon, now roused, managed to blind the veteran fighter with a color spray, ensuring that he continued to miss most of his attacks and allowing Drogan to take him out fairly easily on his next swing.

Meanwhile, however, the fight with the spear-wielding, gladiator-styled fighter was not going well. With a freshly-healed Devon trying to run away from him, the enemy pursued the obviously weak opponent, ignoring any opportunity attacks on the way, and struck Devon down again. Alwaith retaliated with his ranged attacks, his invisibility giving him the edge and causing significant damage, made all the worse for the enemy due to the hexes he was under. With the veteran fighter now down, Dwarrow's spiritual weapon was able to switch its attack to the gladiator and finally managed to down with a heavy swing. The three fighters were defeated!

Devon was duly revived again by Dwarrow, and the party quickly dragged the bodies into the temple they emerged from, and closed the door. After a day in which Dwarrow fell to the harpies, and Alwaith (once) and Devon (twice) fell to a group of experienced fighters, it was felt that a lengthy rest would be in order! As night fell, our "heroes" quickly searched the bodies and the rooms of this temple, which was obviously being home to these three (at least), finding some gold and some spell scrolls, along with a nice pair of boots radiating transmutation magic, for their efforts.

And so we leave our "Heroes" preparing to take a long rest as night falls over the Abbey complex. The dead bodies are inside, and the doors closed - they hope anyone passing will not see anything untoward. We shall see if that is actually the case….