Session 12, 2007-12-01: We're Going to See the Elves!

Session 12: wherein an archery contest winner gets a trophy, and arrows beat antimagic

Players (Characters)
Scott (Filthy Ike)
Jeremy (Flynn Flamm)
Tony (Brother Jakob)
Rachel (Lotus)
Tom (Nathaniel Graythorne)
DM: Catherine

Minellin gave Nathaniel a freshly-crafted Runestaff of Construct Control and then sent the party on their first "special ops" mission, northward to the Ivani-Ghern border. Gindralen gave Nate the teleportation coordinates and, after teleporting, led the party to a huge tree that was hidden by illusions as if it was just an average tree. Nate began studying the illusions, noticing they gave off no aura whatsoever. Jakob climbed the tree while Lotus licked the bark, noting its texture and flavor. Ike moved to shave some bark off the tree for use as a cooking ingredient, but the party held him back. Soon, everyone climbed the tree and stepped into the outpost high in its branches.

The outpost's director, Thameor, called out "hey, Nate! Did you get it yet?" Alas, neither of the two companions had returned to the Dancing Bear tavern since the fall of Jezrel 155 years ago, so neither had won the bet they'd made shortly after the war. Now that the Hobgoblins controlled the city, it would take a monumental effort to reach the tavern. The two old friends babbled on and on about life back when they were young, boring the rest of the party.

Soon, Lotus and Ike spotted a gargoyle flying about a thousand feet away from the tree. Thameor said it was a scout from the hobgoblins. Ike wasted no time, nailing it with a pair of arrows. Thameor fired his own pair of arrows but missed with both. Ike taunted Thameor as Flynn began singing, and Ike's next three poisoned arrows both killed and paralyzed the gargoyle (6-6-6 dex.) When the gargoyle hit the ground, it broke in half from the force. Jakob hopped out of the outpost, swinging and tumbling to the ground, and then ran to the gargoyle corpse. Some of the gold the gargoyle carried ended up wedged into nearby trees, but Jakob was able to pull the coins out of where they'd gotten stuck. He brought back the coins and the gargoyle's head, which Ike mounted with the inscription "Ike wuz heer."

About an hour later, the party noticed a golem walking around punching trees, obviously searching for fakes. Nathaniel used his staff to cast "hide from constructs" on the party, and they moved to surround the golem. Flynn began singing and Nate placed grease under the golem's feet, making it slip and fall. Jakob and Ike each hit the golem once, while Thameor's arrow bounced off of the golem. Ike shot several more arrows and even Nate got in on the action with an acid-covered crossbow bolt, but it was Jakob's flurry of fists and feet that ended the golem's existence. Ike and Thameor covered the golem's tracks and destroyed evidence of the party's involvement in killing it, and Jakob buried the golem itself.

Another hour passed and Ike spotted a group of hobgoblins moving around with a large wagon that had a large flaming bowl at its center. The Ninja Mongoose Rockstars moved to engage the hobgoblins. Ike fired a series of arrows at the lead hobgoblin and Jakob charged him. Lotus' Ice Flowers extinguished the flame and injured all of the others. Flynn began singing about how stupid hobgoblins were and how they'd look good in coffins. One of the hobgoblins, with a symbol of a triangle with a line balanced at its tip on his armor, relit the flame, which billowed thick obscuring smoke. Several others, with sword symbols on their armor, moved toward Jakob. Nate's Great Thunderclap stunned a pair of hobgoblins and knocked another pair over. Jakob waited for two hobgoblins to approach him from the smoke, and when their attacks swung wide, he took the opportunity to knock both over and kill them. Lotus' vortex of teeth killed all but two of the remaining hobgoblins. Ike and Nate finished off the one with a circle and X on his equipment (Ike said the symbol made a nice target), and Jakob grabbed the final one with the balance, wrestling him to the ground and unconscious. Nate discovered none of the hobgoblins had magical equipment, and in fact, one of them (the one with the "target") had an aura that looked to be anti-magical on his body.

Lotus put out the fire and then experimented with the wagon. She found that one lever released thousands of gallons of oil and tipped the fire bowl over, which likely would have charred acres of forest if the fire had been actively burning. Jakob destroyed the cart and began overturning soil to get the oil off of the surface quickly. Nate disguised himself as one of the "target" hobgoblins (the party later learned these were called "spellsinks"). He tried to interrogate the "balance" hobgoblin (an engineer), but the engineer refused to take orders from a spellsink, and tried to attack Nate. Ike's bow put a quick end to that drama and the party headed back to the outpost.

Lotus took eagle form and flew over the hobgoblin outpost. It was on top of a hill, and the forest had been burned away for several hundred yards around. Two dozen of the hobgoblin soldiers were practicing with their swords, and the outpost had at least one trebuchet. Rather than making a frontal assault, the party decided to destroy an inbound supply wagon. Lotus and Jakob stood near the road out in front of the wagon, Ike and Flynn took up positions off to the side, and Nate snuck behind the wagon as it passed. Nate's Great Thunderclap, Lotus' Entangle, and Flynn's Inspirational Boost all took longer to cast than expected. Jakob threw the wagon's driver aside, and Ike fired an arrow right through where the driver had just been a moment before.

Flynn began singing and Ike made up for his missed shot by putting three arrows right through the driver's body. A troll stepped from inside the wagon and attacked Jakob. Jakob was unable to trip the troll, but it was able to daze him. The spellsink dispelled Nate's mage armor and his spellsink disguise, but Nate's Great Thunderclap finally went off, knocking down the troll and horses. The spellsink was completely immune. Nate, upset that his spells seemed to be failing, shot the spellsink right in the throat. Lotus began casting Flamestrike, which again took longer than expected, and Flynn cast Rage on Jakob. Jakob and the troll each tried their same tricks, but the troll kept its feet and Jakob kept his composure. Jakob pulled the sides of the wagon down on top of the troll and the spellsink and then ran for help. Ike fired some arrows at the smaller lump in the wagon, killing the spellsink with a second shot to the throat. Nate cast unluck on the troll, and Lotus' flamestrike and dehydration hurt it and drained away its health. Flynn missed with a pair of arrows and the troll began to flee. Ike's pair of poisoned arrows made the troll significantly less agile, and Nate's phantasmal assailants paralyzed it. Jakob used the Touch of the Shadow Sun to heal himself and drain the troll. Once Jakob was fully healed, Lotus told Nate the troll would only die from acid, so Nate used his acidic crossbow to fire a shot right at the troll's heart. The unlucky troll died from the wound, and the party retrieved many supplies.