In which our heroes wake up beside a creepy guy called Klaks, stage a duel between giants, rescue the hostages, rush boldly into battle, are saved by a pegasus, acquire a druidic totem and lose Sol due to creative differences.
Session Recount
Our heroes awaken from their rest in the Eldritch Grove with the sun already high in the cloudless sky. Glistening through the canopy the sun rays illuminate the forest floor in a relaxing, verdant hue – which would relax the party if not for a strange face staring at them where Sol laid. With a gruff voice he introduces himself as Klaks from Karrnath. In most other circumstances the group would have readied their arms if not for subtle distinguishing features that reassured the group that this was their friend Sol and he was a changeling. However, it wasn’t the strange face that disturbed our brave adventures, but his sociopath-like nature as he launches into a tirade of questions at the bleary-eyed Nedne regarding Bruiser.
Conversation turns heated as Nedne holds back information regarding the arrangement that she has with a bracelet she wears and the collar around Bruiser’s neck. If not for Artillery, who breaks up the aggressively turning argument, our heroes might have turned on each other. With calm diplomacy Artillery encourages the group that they are on a mission and despite the inciting Klak’s best efforts they agree to temporarily put aside their animosity and press on with the days objective.
The heroes press westward through the deepening forest which takes them several hours into the afternoon. Yrda soon whispers to the party that they are coming upon the giant’s camp and to be cautious. Ifrid suggests that now would be a good idea to do some reconnaissance. Kaster, Theren, Nedne and Bruiser volunteer to move closer to the camp and check on the status of the camp, the count of giants and any vantage points they could turn into an ambush. Approaching stealthily from the south, the scouting party see before them the camp on the other side of a river, a few giants sitting around a campfire and another walking towards the mouth of a cave. As the giant disappears into the cave the scouts feel a need to make sure that this is the location that holds the missing dwarves and knights arcane.
Wild shaping into a white, fluffy bunny, Theren crawls, hops and jumps through the underbrush to get closer. Nimbly bouncing over the stones in the river he approaches the cave mouth and peers in. A short distance inside another giant sits on a stool, picking his teeth with a sharpened bone. Bravely the white rabbit attempts to sneak inside but is spotted by the giant guarding the path further into the cave. The giant snatches the bunny from the ground and smiling that he will manage to taste such a rare morsel, lifts the small mammal to drop it into his waiting jaws.
Releasing the petrified bunny, Theren snaps out of his wild shape in an instant and before the giant know what happened, he throws a handful of poisonous berries into its open mouth. The giant, startled that he now is holding the leg of an elf and not a delicious rabbit, slams Theren into the cave wall, instantly knocking him unconscious. The confused giant carries the limp Theren out to the other giants by the bonfire, the female grunts at the other giant to check if he has a dragonmark on his body. Shaking the lifeless body of Theren his armour made of leaves roll over his head revealing an undragonmarked torso. The female, clearly in charge and disappointed with the result, orders the giant holding the elf to toss it into a cage in the cave and goes back to the fire.
Seeing Theren now captured, Nedne and Kaster retreat back to the group where Ifrid, Artillery and Sol are going over the plan with Yrda in what they need to do. Yrda, impatient with wanting to storm into the camp with her newly crafted sword, they do their best to convince her that she needs to play it smart – perhaps taking one or two of the other giants out of the equation to allow Yrda to challenge Druja honourably without being interrupted. Kaster and Nedne return to the group and inform them of the situation which forces their hand to start with their plan.
Artillery, using some more of the poisonous berries they found whilst walking through the forest, he poisons the cask of wine that Yrda was carrying for them. Moving towards the camp, he drops the wine upstream of the flowing river and fires an arrow at the bank of the river to catch a giants attention. Druja notices the arrow and calls the giants around the campfire to action that something is not right. One of the giants notices the cask floating in the water and brings it back to Druja asking if they can alleviate the boredom drinking it. As they begin to fight over who deserves to fight over the wine, our heroes split up with their assigned tasks. Artillery and Nedne head over to the top of the cave and discover a hole in the cave ceiling that drops into the back of the cave. Kaster, Sol and Ifrid stay with Yrda as the giant strides forward and in a commanding voice, challenges the other female for leadership of the tribe and to win back the heart of Tarrak, her former love.
Artillery and Nedne drop into the back of the cave and noticing a giant patrolling towards them they quickly hide in some nearby overturned carriages. As they squeeze into a carriage a piece Artillery notices the still unconscious Theren as well as the missing dwarf and knights arcane – who look particularly worse for wear. From her hiding spot, Nedne discovers the bodies of a couple of soldiers and loots their corpses for whatever coin they have as well as scatters a large sack of ball bearings on the ground as the giant approaches the cages.
Outside, Yrda and Druja face off bathed in the light of the bonfire as the sky dims. Yrda wielding Romance and Druja wielding a large totem with 3 faces on it that allows her to pull spells from. Kaster, Sol and Ifrid watch the battle from the other side of the river call out insults and point out cheating to Tarrak as Druja fails to honourably do battle. Inside, Artillery revives Theren and narrowly dodges the flailing heavy chain that the giant guard uses to splinter the carriages after discovering them. Theren, snaps awake from his blunt force trauma slumber to find himself under assault by the same giant that rendered him unconscious. Noticing the ball bearings as he dodges to one side of the carriage evading the massive chain, he conjures a gust of wind to blow the bearings across the floor and causes the giant to slip and fall. As Nedne and Artillery attack the fallen giant, the prisoners make a break for the entrance of the cave against the advice of the warforged. Theren chases after them but not before casting an Entangle spell on the prone giant – restraining him to the ground.
The battle between the two female giants rages on outside, but Yrda seems to be taking far too much damage from Druja. Noticing her dishonourable methods, Tharrak becomes conflicted as to who is actually the lady that he loves – causing Druja to protest that he is being weak and should love her without question. At this point, Kaster, Sol and Ifrid all jump into action to aid Yrda in the name of love! Ifrid casts a spell on Druja who uncontrollable starts laughing, Kaster ‘bravely’ engages in combat with another giant whilst the poisoned wine makes another become unable to focus and collapses into the fast moving river – to be swept away downstream.
With the giant in the cave taken care and after catching up to the injured prisoners, Theren tells them to go back as Artillery has an escape route for them up the top of the cave. As they return to safety, Theren turns into his known white mare form and gallops over to the giant rolling around on the floor in a fit of laughter and pushes the totem weapon away. With the totem now out of reach, Yrda hacks away at Druja with Romance. From the forest, Sol takes far too much damage from another giants long bow and falls unconscious, bleeding heavily. At the same time, Kaster takes a pummelling from the giant he is fighting and almost reaches his limit. With the situation looking dire, a Pegasus flies out of the sky and assists Kaster – but before she can do any real damage the giant snatches her out of the air by one of her wings and launches her into the ground – crippling her and rendering her unconscious.
Theren, their only healer, sees his fallen comrade in the distance and also the dying pegasus nearby and makes the difficult decision on who to rescue. Clenching his teeth together in anguish, he casts a healing spell on Sol to cauterise his wounds and bring him back from the brink and rushes over to the fallen horse. Yrda takes a crippling blow from Druja and is knocked out cold, but before she can take a finishing blow, Druja is assaulted by our heroes and is slain. With all other giants dispatched leave the fallen Yrda in the arms of Tharrak taking away Druja’s totem of power and warns her that if she dares to venture to the road they will end her with the totem.
The Pegasus, with shallow breaths looks at Theren with eyes of love and understanding that she has helped defeat the giants that were hunting her herd. Theren reaches deep inside himself and with a last effort brings her back from the void. The revived Pegasus considers this such an act of love and in her eyes recognises Theren with a life bond and vows to go wherever he does. In turn, Theren discovers that Allrianne’s wing is beyond his ability of healing and vows to find an answer to her crippled appendage and let her soar amongst the clouds once more.
After a short rest and helping the prisoners regain some of their stamina, our heroes make their way out of the forest. Along the way further discussion is had regarding Nedne’s bear. It is discovered that it is likely that the bear is not a bear, but something that is trapped within the form of the bear. Klaks/Sol continues to suggest sociopathic premises, each more twisted than the next and at the edge of the forest he reshapes back into Sol and tells Nedne directly. “I wore the skin of Klaks to demonstrate to you the cruelty that I see in you with that bracelet holding this beast.”, addressing the rest of the party he continues, “And you all. How can you let this form of arcane slavery continue without taking any action? I cannot be associated with such a group of people that are ok with this arrangement and your continued lack of action goes directly against who and what I am.” Without another word he takes the next turn off the main road and disappears.
In stunned silence our heroes watch the bard leave, questioning whether their decisions have been good ones and whether Sol was right. In silence they progress northwards on the road to Ghant. Weary with their toils of the day and the strength of the freed prisoners waning, our adventures spot a campfire off the road surrounded by a small gathering of humanoids. Fatigued as they are, they draw their weapons before being met with a friendly greeting from a man introducing himself as Hadrian. Accepting his invitation to rest at their camp, they discover that he is on a noble quest to Braeland with a group of followers that claim he will be the next king to unite the lands after the war.
With heavy eyes, one by one the group falls asleep amongst the company of their new friends and with Kaster smouldering at Hadrian’s ambition.
Session glossary
- Klaks – a Karrnathi warlord; did some questionable things during the war
- Lord Darro ir’Lein – Aundair’s Second Warlord of the Realm and Commander of the Knights Arcane
- Allrianne – a noble pegasus; now crippled
- Urrak & Varda – a couple of giants from the Eldritch Groves; now dead
- Cymer Beauval – a famous toymaker from Fairhaven; known among the nobility for his puzzles
- Gardain d’Kundarak – a dragonmarked dwarf; knew Kaster when he was little
- Sarello d’Lyrandar – a dragonmarked half-elf; a Raincaller
- Aldred & Elias – Knights Arcane rescued from Druja’s lair
- Hadrian – a young adventurer who dreams of King Jarot telling him to unite Galifar once again; travels with his three companions:
- Catastrophe (a.k.a Cat) – a delightfully neurotic mage from Arcanix
- Lorelei d’Cannith – a non-marked heir of Cannith West, from Passage; pro-democracy
- Corentin – a human interested in the current political situation in Breland; pro-monarchy
Turn of the Age 