Session 43 - A Lesson In What Happens When You Let Them Get Away

Mon 22nd Mar 19:30 - 23:30

In-game timeline: Uktar 23 - Uktar 23 DR1489

With their new-found insight into the thoughts and feelings of the creatures they are facing, our "Heroes" decide… to continue to kill everything they come across.

They lay in wait. And wait some more. Nothing ventures into their hold-out. So they wait a little longer. They open up the chest in the room to reveal some stuff, including some nice silk scarves. Drogan takes a pretty red one and stuffs it in his backpack to give to Hawkeye later. The romance is blossoming! At this point Grarth decides to go and check out the corridor. As he exits the room he almost bumps into a humanoid/bear hybrid, and a werewolf who seemed to be lying in wait for such an event.

They manage to get an attack in and Grarth is bitten by the wolf, only to feel 'The Curse' flow through his veins. The fight is tough - Grarth needed to run back into the room to get help for the fight, but the bear and the wolf followed, only to be faced by a raging Drogan and a hard-to-spot Devon. Not only that, but a recovering Grarth and Alwaith were then attacked from the other direction by another pair of werewolves.

The battle becomes even tougher. The bear was especially difficult to bring down, and was dangerous with those sharp claws. Grarth needed to use the greater healing potion and later his second wind to recover some health, and was bitten more times - he once again felt more of The Curse flowing into his body. Alwaith plays fast and loose with his Eldritch Blasts, usually so accurate, but every now and then one flies off wildly. Unfortunately this was the case in this battle - attempting to hit the werewolf attacking Grarth, Alwaith shoots an Eldritch Blast which veers away from its intended target and hits Grarth instead - the Half-Ogre is less than impressed and is suspicious that it wasn't as accidental as the pale half-elf claimed.

Eventually Grarth manages to take down one of the werewolves and Drogan, after an intense fight and taking numerous wounds, is able to finally take down the werebear. Unfortunately Grarth is then brought down by one of the remaining wolves, and the others are too busy with the remaining creatures to be able to immediately help him. His death saves don't go well.

Drogan finishes off the werewolf attacking him and, while Devon pours a potion down the unconscious Grarth's neck just in time, Drogan moves in on the final werewolf attacking Alwaith and takes it down with a clean swipe from Cleave, who is very much enjoying the fight and is disappointed that no more combatants remain.

As Grarth rises back up, exhausted, and wondering what happened, the group nurse their wounds and contemplate the decision to allow the werewolves to run away unchallenged from the previous encounter, and the deviation from the previously "agreed" "plan" by Phil Specter. Many recriminations abound, which is pretty much the norm for this close-knit group of friends.

At this point the group of "Heroes" decide they need another rest. It's been a few hours and a few battles since the last rest, and they need to recover some health. Wary of resting without checking out the remainder of this level of the ruins, the group patrol the corridors to see what else is around. They spot a narrow, natural tunnel leading off into the hillside, but decide to ignore it for now. A pair of double doors cannot be ignored, however, and they cautiously open them to check out the room beyond.

Inside this room is a very strange contraption - a pedestal of gears and levers, near to a small, flowing aqueduct carrying a stream of water from one side of the room to the other. In the centre of the room is an unlit brazier, surrounded by strange orbs fixed into iron poles which fit into slots in the floor. Grarth is generally confused by a simple lever, and really cannot get his head around this device. The others take a brief look at it and decide it is a problem for another day and ignore it. They also decide that this room is a good place to rest, and close the doors and recover for an hour. Which passes uneventfully - at least that's what they think.

Emerging from the room after an hour, the place looks much as they had left it. Except, as they soon discover, the bodies of the werewolves, and werebear (which, once it had reverted to human form upon death, Grarth recognised as Jacob, the person who recruited him a few days ago) had been removed!

They approach the stairs heading down to the next level, and spend a small amount of time marvelling at the (Dwarven, of course, according to Drogan) workmanship in the bas relief panels depicting more Titan vs Gods battles of the Titanic Wars.

Devon is sent sneaking ahead and reaches the next level. He spots what looks like a wererat patrolling the corridor ahead, and returns to inform the others. A plan is hatched, worthy of this group of "Heroes". They sneak down the stairs together, none too quiet, but none too loud either. Unfortunately no one told Grarth to extinguish his torch, so the stealthy movement is somewhat negated by the fact that a brightly lit torch is descending the otherwise unlit stairs. By the time they reach the bottom of the stairs, there is no sign of the wererat, and they are faced with an empty corridor.

The progress cautiously down the corridor, but it seems a group of wererats are waiting for them, and launch an attack on Drogan when he reaches a corner. The initial attack consists of another werewolf, and a 'corrupted' wererat, with the now-dreaded sight of purple poison running through its veins. During the battle, three more corrupted wererats join the fight.

Drogan, being at the front, bears the brunt of the fight. The corrupted animals use their vomit attack to good effect, and necrotic damage abounds. Many of the group take damage, but Drogan takes most, and eventually falls after the second vomit attack hits him.

After Drogan is taken down, the others take up the battle. Cleave had already claimed the life of one of the wererats, and Devon had managed to finish off a battered werewolf with his Shard of Eltrys, boosted by sneak attack and booming blade. Grarth and Alwaith luckily resist more bites from the rats, and Alwaith's Eldritch Blasts are a bit better targeted now, and before long the remaining three rats are taken down. A potion is used to revive Drogan and once again the party stands victorious amongst a number of bodies, though they are once more battered and bruised and with very little healing abilities or items left between them.

And so we leave our "Heroes" on the field of another battle, contemplating their options and considering their remaining health and the possible battles to come…