Session 41 - I Love It When A Plan... Doesn't Quite Work As Intended

Tue 9th Mar 19:45 - 23:15

In-game timeline: Uktar 23 - Uktar 23 DR1489

Our heroes awake, not quite as refreshed as they hoped, as the sun rises over the swamplands. They set off quickly for the Ruins, not wanted to waste any more daylight in these marshes.

Arriving at the Ruins they look over the area, which seems strangely dry and barren, upon which the ancient Ruins of An-Sen lie. Grarth seems to think there may be lookouts in at least one of the 4 towers that surround the ruins, and it is clear that the main approach, via a bridge over a river, is very open and obvious to anyone looking out of the tower. So they hatch a plan.

Alwaith reveals that he can not only fly, but also turn invisible. And can turn someone else invisible too. The others express surprise at Alwaith's abilities that he seems to drop into conversation every week or so. They decide that sending a couple of invisible people over to scout out the ruins would be a good idea. Devon was the obvious choice, but then they decide that whoever goes over should possibly try to take out some guards whilst invisible. So maybe Drogan? They take one look at Grarth, busy picking vegetation out of his toenails with his teeth, and rule him out quite quickly. So Alwaith and Drogan it is. They promptly turn invisible and at that point realise that they may struggle to see and communicate with each other while they are both invisible.

Drogan suffers the indignity of having his mohawk grabbed by Alwaith as they walk over the bridge. Still, it's better than holding hands.

They enter the first tower and climb the stairs. Alwaith slips and stumbles on the stairs, causing a lizardfolk guard to check out the staircase. Drogan quickly rigs up a trap in case the guard comes down, but the guard, seeing nothing, retreats back into the room at the top of the tower. Alwaith and Drogan breathe again, and then spend a while trying to find each other once more.

They check out the room at the top - two guards. Rather than take them on there and then, they decide to check out more of the ruins whilst their invisibility lasts, so they head over to the second tower, and find the same situation - two guards at the top.

On the way there, they had seen a couple of intact areas of the ruins in the centre. Drogan decides they should check these out on the way to the two towers at the rear of the ruins. Alwaith listens at the first door and hears nothing from within, so Drogan, perhaps forgetting that he is invisible, decides to open the door and see what is inside.

The Lizardfolk shaman preparing his lunch in the room is surprised to see his door opening with no one there. Being of a magical nature, he is immediately suspicious and rushes out to investigate. Alwaith and Drogan quickly hide around the corner, and make their way back round to the first tower, giving a wide berth to the centre of the ruins. They are unseen, but the shaman is still very suspicious, and he rouses 4 guards from the other room who fan out to investigate the ruins, alerting the guards in the towers as they do so.

Alwaith and Drogan decide it is time to take out some guards, especially as the area is now on high alert, and their invisibility is running out. They climb up to the first tower and take advantage of the fact that the two guards are now peering out of the window. Both "Heroes" use their invisibility to surprise the guards, and both score impressive hits. Drogan then follow up with a hit so clean that the guard is unable to shout out a warning. However, Drogan decides to press his advantage and shove the guard out of the window after almost killing him with his newly acquired warhammer, Traxiil (Cleave is REALLY unimpressed at being left out. He is sulking). This does indeed kill the guard, but the sight of one of their colleagues falling from a tower to the ground below does somewhat alert the guards patrolling outside to the presence of someone in that tower.

Meanwhile Drogan finishes off with another hit on the other guard, who responds by defensively swinging his morningstar and managing to score hits on the barbarian. Alwaith follows with a swing from his magical longsword which cleaves the guard in two. Just in case the rest of the guards weren't aware of their presence, Alwaith decides to finish with a flourish and ignite the body with magical flames - the light and smoke from which does an excellent job of advertising to all around that they are here in the tower.

With all the guards below now alerted to their presence, Drogan descends to the lower doorway to make a stand. Alwaith follows, but not before he has checked out who is coming, and manages to get a Shatter spell off at the shaman and two guards as they are running across towards the tower.

Meanwhile Grarth and Devon, patiently waiting in the undergrowth on the other side of the bridge, are perhaps unsurprised to see the great commotion going on in the Ruins. Bodies being flung out of tower windows and flames and smoke is probably not how Devon would have gone about it, but it is an obvious marker that Drogan is in town. They start to run over to join the fight.

This fight goes so much better than the last one against these lizard-like foes. Drogan is mildly concerned when suddenly 8 very large actual lizards appear right in front of him, but he has the sense to focus his efforts on the distant shaman, and uses the power of Traxiil to bring down a bolt of lightning upon the magic user, ending his life before he could do more damage, and managing to make all the summoned lizards disappear in the process. 

Which just leaves the 10 guards to take care of - four of which join the fight a little later on, as they came from further away. But Grarth and Devon are now in the fray, and seem to have a tag-team routine going, though Grarth is a little unsure as to the rules of this particular set-up. Devon shows off as usual by sliding through the half-ogre's legs to score a hit on an enemy before disengaging and sliding back through Grarth's legs again. Unfortunately this tactic comes a little unstuck when Devon 'runs out of movement' and finds himself standing next to an enemy - a very unsettling and unusual position for him to be in! Luckily Grarth manages to take that enemy down with a crushing blow from his maul before Devon could be in any real danger.

Meanwhile Drogan and Alwaith are, almost literally, holding the fort against the lizardfolk guards. Drogan is taking some damage, but his barbarian rage is cancelling out much of the this. The most significant damage to Drogan in fact comes from Alwaith, whose usually accurate Eldritch Blast goes astray an hits Drogan instead. Not for the first time, Drogan mutters under his breath.

With their shaman taken out so quickly by a sudden lightning bolt from the sky, and some strange, magical vine growth covering some of the arid ground (as a result of Alwaith's use of Belak's staff), and then the rapid demise of a further six fellow guards at the hands of the four adventurers, the remaining four guards decide this life is no longer for them, and flee the battle. They take a few hits in the process, but manage to slink away into the waters below the plateau and escape.

Our trusty "Heroes" check out the rest of the ruins, finding no more guards, but some tasty lunch, a set of stairs heading down into the darkness below, a strange painting on the walls of one of the rooms and a chalice filled with dark liquid - Grarth promptly tastes the liquid, spits it out, empties the rest on the floor and pockets the chalice. Devon now has a rival! Or maybe an apprentice.

After a short rest, the group decide to check out a possible entrance that they spotted from the other side of the bridge - a cavern or tunnel in the side of the cliffs. Devon is promptly lowered down on a rope from above, and then goes exploring through the winding tunnels. He doesn't reach the end and isn't sure if it goes where they hope to go, but it is a little narrow in places, and although Devon thinks Grarth could get through, with a bit of help, there is no guarantee he'd make it all the way through. After travelling only about 80 or 90 feet into the tunnel, Devon turns around and rejoins the others.

With time getting on they decide not to try to force a reluctant Alwaith to check out the water-filled tunnel nearby, and instead head back to the shaman's room where they agree to head down the steps into darkness.

Arriving at a circular room below they are impressed by the ancient bas relief carvings on the stone walls, depicting some form of battle involving mighty dragons and impressive magic. As they take all this in, we leave our "Heroes" about to venture into the underground Ruins of An-Sen….