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Bastard Son of the great-grandchild of the sister's gibbon's friend of the nephew of the Campaign that Would Not Die, now in 3.75e
Møøse Trained By: Hugh Foster
Møøse Trained By: Hugh Foster
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Bastard Son of the great-grandchild of the sister's gibbon's friend of the nephew of the Campaign that Would Not Die, now in 3.75e Møøse Trained By: Hugh Foster |
A few days later, the party once again reached the edge of a settlement, walking past fields and outlying farms. Occasionally, they could see trampled crops and some building damage, but unlike Knowle, Sterling was still a going concern. As they travelled, people working on the farms watched them, some with suspicion, others with friendly greetings or interest.
Surprisingly, for a hamlet, Sterling had two taverns, the Flag and Blade and The Leaping Jester. Choosing at random, the party walked into the Flag and Blade and settled against the bar. A few farmers and crafters were there, eating lunch, along with a single junior-looking priest of the Triad. Borax surveyed the room. "All right," he growled, "Which of you cnuts is going to buy me a drink?" There was a pause, and then a quiet voice from the back said, "Well, I'd buy her a drink..." There was a general laugh, and Ruby nodded to indicate she'd take the offer. "Yeah, OK, all of you," added the voice, possibly having got a closer look at Borax. The dwarf grinned; "I'll buy the round," he allowed, and shoved some coins over the bar.
 DM Note: 1 - this is an example of a problem I have. I scribble notes quickly to make these logs from, and sometimes I'll note a statement but not who said it; or as in this case, remember it was said as I go and not have anything written down. Almost inevitably, I've credited it to Ruby and it's been Borax. This is probably true again here! |
Ice broken, the customers gathered round, interested in new arrivals as villagers generally were. When the Tanks mentioned that they were here to investigate the raiding, the welcome warmed even more, and food and lodging - even if only in a barn - were proffered on the house. The landlord, Kofer, was able to fill in some details. Over three months, four farms had been attacked. One was destroyed and burned out, but this was the exception; Bipfesh, Kroger and Charloroy's farms had been more selectively robbed - of small "valuables" (such as this place could offer), food harvested and prepared this autumn and thus portable ... and children. "Children?" asked Borax with sudden intentness. Six children between the ages of 3 and 10 were missing from the farms.
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The most recent attack had been on the eighth. "Did anyone go after them?" asked Ruby1. Kofer shook his head sadly. "Dragahisa - our roper - lost his two children who'd been visiting Kroger's farm. He went off after them, to the north - they come from the north as far as I know, the day after. I don't expect we'll see him again. The rest of us ... we're not warriors or wizards. We're farmers and basketmakers and coopers."
While their meal was cooking, Borax borrowed Brew the dog and they went out to hunt for tracks before the light failed. His interest in resolving this matter had sharpened noticeably since hearing about the children. Tracing an arc across the northern edge of the village, the pair turned up a few remnant tracks and a bit of a scent, leading pretty much straight north; both coming and going.
After supper, the pair went over to the Jester while their companions settled into the barn. There met locals in
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the same way, and when Carzer the mayor (and cobbler!) arrived, he expanded on what was known. Unlike the raiders at Oakhurst, the Slitheren had been targetting farms seemingly at random, in varied places rather than on the closest side to their presumed base. These ranged from a mile outside town to five.
Shortly after that, the constable arrived, and it was clear at a glance that he and the mayor were close kin, if not brothers. Cynical as ever, Borax asked "Who gains from these attacks? Anyone put in offers on the damaged or destroyed farms?" The reaction was so shocked that he dropped the subject, realizing that it meant no-one in the town had earned that level of suspicion.
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Just before dusk, Calcryx was sent up to spiral out over the hamlet, his keen eyes alert for any sign of approaching attackers. The little dragon was feeling more active and comfortable as the winter advanced, and willingly enough swept the area for lurking rattty attackers; he found none.
The next morning, well provisioned by the hopeful villagers, the party left. Half the hamlet turned out to see them off and wish them well; "Belisama go with you," said Carzer as he shook their hands.
Calcryx took to the air, jaunty again in the cold, as the others trudged northwards, Borax and Brew on the lookout for tracks.
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After several days travel, they reached the edges of the forest they'd been approaching for some time. It was a bit of a mystery; trees out here in the frontier were generally stubby, stunted affairs found in small spinneys at best; but here was a considerable forest, extending some miles to the east and west. Ranging along the edge, Calcryx had found a gap in the otherwise dense trees, a path leading in, and on examination, more ratty footprints were seen. To Borax's trained eyes, the trees and plants looked wrong, unnatural, bearing signs both of being Curst and somehow unnaturally successful for where they had grown.
Carefully they picked their way in, alert for any hazards. As the path led deeper into the forest, it became darker and somehow colder; even Calcryx looked uncomfortable. The trees creaked suggestively and seemed to lean in across the path; other strange noises could be heard to the sides, though the sounds made by the travellers seemed somehow muffled.
After around an hour, something small and solid bounced off Ruby's helmet. After so long in oppressive quiet, it was a considerable shock, though it did no harm. A few moments later, Calvis was hit by one, then others of the party. Picking one up, Borax discovered it to be an acorn. Glancing wildly around, they eventually caught sight of a large, dark grey squirrel leaping from branch to branch and hurling a chestnut at Meepo. Others were all around, keeping up a rain of nuts and small branches. Borax swung his crossbow off his shoulder and glanced around for a target, but Ruby shook her head. "Probably taste horrible anyway," she pointed out, "and I'm not leaving the path to collect it, either." Borax wondered if Entangle would help, but finally decided not to bother. Instead, they pressed on along the path. After another ten minutes or so, the attacks dwindled and stopped.
An hour after that, the path suddenly widened and gave into a large, circular clearing. In the middle was a large pool of water, perfectly circular, with stone coping around the edge. On the western side, this was breached and a steady stream of water flowed out of the pool, though this neither disturbed the perfectly calm, opaque water nor reduced it at all - though the broken stones were well weathered, showing the breach to be other than recent. Looking at the carved stones, both Calvis and Neithar commented that they were elf-made. The damp edges of the stream where it led off through the trees showed prints, and indicated where the path conntinued out of the clearing.
Borax had cautiously halted the party at the end of the path, and all scanned the scene for any signs of danger. Nothing moved, and he bent down and picked up a half-brick-sized piece of stone from the path. With a gentle underhand lob, he arced it out over the pool, into which it disappeared with a deep, resonant sploosh and ripples that faded sooner than was entirely natural. A moment later the pool erupted.
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What seemed like writhing tentacles whipped the water to foam as something boiled out of the depths. A moment later they realized they were not tentacles... they were necks. "Hydra!" yelled Neithar as a huge body erupted out of the water and clambered towards them.
Borax shot his readied crossbow, and it was only when the bolt was stuck in the creature's side that they got a full realization of how big it really was. Behind him, he could hear Calvis flick a copper in the air and chant the appeal to the Lady of Chance to Bless him and his allies in a rather shaky voice. Behind him, he heard Neithar strike a tuning A and start singing to his lute. Borax ground his teeth at this, but then felt the stirring music ripple across his adrenals, making him feel somehow braver and mightier. Well, all right then. At least it's not an accordion, he thought, bringing up the flames on the Hammer of Vengeance and stepping sideways to allow Ruby and Calvis to move level with him. Meepo was casting as well, but nothing visible happened; he'd sensibly started with Mage Armour.
| DM Note: Another chance for Sunder but no, it's still utter pants. |
Remembering some fragment of lore she'd read somewhere, Ruby struck out with her sword, using Sunderspike's innate powers to try to sever the one of the necks. The blade bit, and the head sagged sideways with an angered hiss, but the wound didn't go all the way through and the blood loss was minimal. Maybe she'd mis-remembered what she thought she knew about hydras? As she pondered this, Calcryx launched his infant breath weapon at one of the heads and banked away out of reach. Ice formed on it, but it wasn't especially slowed.
Lightning-fast, the heads lashed forward, biting out at the front rank with savage brutality. Blood spattered as all three took wounds; this monster was no slouch! Returning the attacks, Borax, Ruby and Calvis concentrated on the body of the beast, intending to bring it down, rather than on trying to cut off heads. Calcryx swooped in again, riming another head in ice, and arced away, coughing as his internal reservoirs ran empty. Meepo, his magical skills improving with practice, slapped two Magic Missiles into it - not doing vast amounts of damage, but adding to the total.
As the fight wore on, Ruby noticed grimly that the damage she'd done to the neck had regrown itself and was no longer bleeding. The same wasn't true of herself or Calvis, now in serious danger. However, their blows had worn down the monster, and with an eight-part-harmony groan it collapsed, half in and half out of the water.
Borax and Ruby immediately started along the line of necks, cutting off the heads. As they did so, they noticed that tiny buds began to sprout on the cut edge of each neck, swelling rapidly into miniature new heads. Borax started cauterizing them with the Hammer and this made sure the hydra stayed dead.
Ruby and Calvis particularly were a mess, and Borax was badly bloodied. Calvis, however, had increased his theological knowledge of his Goddess, and his healing capabilities were improved. A couple of spells took the edge off their injuries, after which Ruby stepped carefully into the pool to investigate the contents, slipping her monocle of Detect Magic into one eye. It was shallow at the edges, sloping sharply to a greater depth in the middle. Strangely, the blood leaking from the dead hydra seemed not to be spreading as much as it should. They glanced at each other, and then Ruby dipped a mug of the water while Borax "dangled his ... injuries" beneath the surface. Both felt sustained, refreshed and in less pain for it. The sensation of health and nurture suggested possible reasons why the forest was so successful, though not why a hydra was living in the pool. What did it eat, for example?
The pool yielded an assortment of rags, buttons and buckles, odds and ends of local currency adding up to 72 marks' worth, a wand ... and bones. Some were animal bones, but many were human bones ... small human bones. "Oh, dear," said Ruby, "The rats have been feeding this thing with children to keep it here." Borax' brow darkened, though he said nothing.
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The wand turned out to be of Melf's Acid Arrow, and Ruby handed it to Meepo. "You owe me 4,500 marks," she commented. Meepo eyed her, head on one side. "But you don't pay me," he pointed out, "or share the treasure. How could I pay you?" She grinned at him, and patted him on the head - but left him with the wand.
Next, the stronger members of the party teamed up to lever the huge corpse into the pool. This made it less obvious what had happened, though the trampled ground, bloodstains of multiple colours and dark shape under the water would be easily noticed at close range. Then they moved around to opposite the outfall and made camp.
Over the course of the evening, Borax took out some tools and repaired the pool edging at the western side. As he worked, it felt almost as though the stones wanted to be back in their proper places; finding the right place for each one was strangely easy. With the job done, the outfall was closed off, and the stream began to dry up; he marked the highwater level in the pool.
Calcryx was sent to scout the early part of the path beside the now-vanishing stream, and came back to report the same booted rat footprints ran along it, again in both directions. The party set off along it, ready for trouble.
After around a mile, they reached a place where the stream - or its bed - ran in between two rises or knolls [tree-ey knolls, not grassy knolls!]. Thick trees ran right up to the top of these, and as they approached them, Borax noticed the leaves moving atop one in a way not related to any wind. Ruby stuck her monocle back in, while Borax simply loosed his crossbow at the place he'd seen the movement. The bolt tore through the leaves, but other than a distant "thunk" of it hitting a tree, there was no reaction. Poised, they waited, but nothing happened.
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After a few minutes, they pressed on, unopposed, towards the knolls. As they passed through the gap, however, Borax felt something catch his foot. "Freeze!" he hissed, ignoring a confused noise from Calcryx. Ever so carefully he backed up, releasing the pressure on the wire. Between Calvis and Borax, the trap was uncovered; a deep pit in front of the wire, with unpleasant-looking spikes at the bottom, covered with a camouflaged cloth. Two planks were laid across it at the edges, just enough to walk across. Roping together, the party crossed, and then Borax set the planks so that treading on them would cause them to fall into the pit anyway and returned the cloth to the top.
Half a mile later they reached the clearing of the ratmen's base. A small cabin, possibly a trapper's or huntsman's, had been crudely repaired with a turf roof, while catwalks and gantries on the other side of the clearing appeared deserted. The place looked entirely empty, but the party were not fooled. Slipping down the last slope and through the trees, they got around behind the cabin and began to work along the back wall.
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Suddenly the back door banged open and four humanoid creatures spilled out.
This was the party's first sight of Slitheren ratmen - or rather women - and it was a momentary jolt. Subconsciously they'd been unable to avoid conflating ratman and ratsized, and the sight of these entirely-mansized creatures exploded that impression. Lean, lithe and extremely fast, three of the four ratmen leaped to engage Calvis, Borax and Ruby, with a fourth hopping excitedly about behind, ready to pile in when she could.
Borax had been carrying his crossbow, but dropped it - the soft leafmould cushioned the fall and it didn't go off - and unslung the Hammer, bracing for their foes to attack. Calvis and Ruby matched his action, while Meepo sent a brace of Magic Missiles at the fourth rat lurking at the back. The rats, chittering loud warcries in their strange, high-pitched language, charged in flailing rather wildly with short swords. The party struck almost as one; the agile speed of the Curst avoided Borax and Calvis' attacks but Ruby struck home hard, leaving her foe hobbling. Borax struck again, while Ruby executed a neat left-and-right that left two rats bleeding out on the ground. Calvis took the opportunity to roll through the fight to behind the rear-guard rat, ready to flank him [I wasn't sure here whether he could have attacked after that, so I NPR ruled he could; he missed. In fact he should, but he also should have taken an AOO so in the end it was pretty fair!] Borax swiped at his opponent and missed it, again, and Ruby slipped her sword in and killed her for him. Calvis stabbed the rearmost one in the back as Borax moved up to attack her from the front - killing the last one.
Ducking swiftly, he picked up two of the fallen rats' short swords, slammed the cabin's door, and rammed the swords into the jamb, jamming the door and preventing any more rats emerging; at least for the moment.
From inside the cabin and across the clearing, ratty voices could be heard along with rapid movement in many directions...
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Session Date: 8th June 2026 |
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