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| The map with the party's path in red. Unconnected squares are tower storeys. |
Between sessions I realised I’d made a number of mistakes creating Eddorn’s character, and addressed them.
The party started by paying 300gp to the Woodwoads for advice on the ruin. This was a fantastic decision because it allowed them to enter through the lucrative north-eastern corner instead of the more dangerous main gate.
Inside said corner they found two dwarves, who seemed unsure whether to fight or flee. As the party continued to try and negotiate round after round, Yadoth’s nerve eventually snapped. “They’re stalling!” he screamed, and shot one of them. Swearing, Balesk charged in and killed the other with his broadsword before offering the injured survivor a chance to leave. On boxcars, he took it and left “peacefully”.
Did I mention lucrative? On top of 1000gp in generic treasure they also found: a ring of invisibility (Yadoth), a ring of water-walk (Balesk), 10 +1 magic arrows (Yadoth), a healing potion (Balesk), and a scroll (Eddorn).
It was a cursed scroll.
We learned it was a cursed scroll when Eddorn disappeared in a flash of sulphur, soon to be shyly replaced by Syraia, a human fighter who had above-average ability scores (especially compared to these two!), but only had a single hit point. Gulp!
Syraia (Fighting Woman)
HP: 1 STR13 INT10 WIS7 CON12 DEX13 CHA12 XP: 0
Equipment: plate, helm, shield, sword, iron rations, tinder box, 6 torches, steel mirror, 36gp
The party continued on towards the SE tower and were surprised to run across a very friendly elf, who had apparently been sent to help them. He joined them in stacking the door – Yadoth had heard orcs – and then as Balesk opened and shut the door, the other three threw lit oil flasks through. The screaming eventually stopped.
They were prevented from reaching the next floor by hostile kobolds, cowering among the greasy smoke of their betters… well, biggers. Trying to parley went very wrong, and they swarmed the party! Unprepared for such courage, the new elf guide was mobbed and slain before Balesk stemmed the tide by killing two back-to-back and then tanking all their attacks for two whole turns. Eventually Syraia and Yadoth helped him clear the staircase and then they were in the kobold lair, outnumbering the kobold leader 3-to-1.
Of course he surrendered.
He surrendered very fast indeed, and offered information for his life. There were harpies up there, harpies who could charm you with their voices! Rinse and repeat… An invisible Yadoth opened the trapdoor, lit flasks were thrown through, and the fighters finished things off with cloth in their ears once the flames had died down.
If you could ignore the roast chicken smells, it wasn’t too bad a place to spend the night. And so they did.
Yadoth and Balesk woke up feeling much better, since they’d just levelled up (to 2 and 3 respectively). Following Syraia’s lead, they continued their exploration of the fort by ambushing goblins with fireflasks and then charging them. The fire killed four, Yadoth shot another, but the last one injured Balesk before Syraia managed to cut it down.
The next section contained seven obviously hostile elves. Here Yadoth used the invisibility ring to sneak on top of the gatehouse before the fighters began the parley – better to flank them and not need it… In the event, boxcars were once again rolled for the reaction roll and it turned out the elves were angry because they were looking for Kelial. Accepting a powerful bribe to tell them what he knew, Balesk sent them in the opposite direction to the one he’d seen Kelial go a few days before.
The party came now to the SW tower, and Yadoth volunteered to keep his ring and sneak inside. There he found two black-bearded dwarves and swiftly slew them as they wondered what had become of their leaders. After he opened the door to the others, the trio found quite a few magic items among the loot for the room: a growth potion, a +1 shield, a +1 flaming sword (+2 vs trolls and +3 against undead!), and scrolls of giant strength and detect magic.
In the next two courtyard sections were two berserkers. One was slain out of hand by Yadoth because he looked too angry, while the second refused to parley and was slain by Syraia with an epic critical hit (9 damage to 3 hit points).
The base of the NW tower was held by five grumpy gnomes, who agreed to tell the party what was upstairs for 100gp.
It was zombies.
It was also, once again, time for lit flasks of oil.
And so the saga of the Forest Fort came to a close and Balesk limped home in the company of Eddorn and Syraia. Once back in Karrdestock, Syraia levelled up too, putting both fighters at level 2 and the thief at level 3. Next would come their voyage westwards, and after that – Allesheim itself!
After spending some of their loot, the party now have...
Balesk (Fighting Man)
HP: 8 STR13 INT9 WIS10 CON11 DEX12 CHA10 XP: 3700
Equipment: Plate, helm, two-handed sword, +1 sword (+2 trolls, +3 undead), shield, dagger, iron rations, steel mirror, wine x3, leather backpack, lantern, 10 oil flasks, 10 torches 3400gp
Syraia (Fighting Woman)
HP: 3 STR13 INT10 WIS7 CON12 DEX13 CHA12 XP: 2100
Equipment: plate, helm, +1 shield, 2 swords, iron rations, tinder box, 10 torches, steel mirror, 2163gp
Yadoth (Thief)
HP: 6 STR8 INT9 WIS13 CON14 DEX11 CHA12 XP: 3530
Equipment: Leather armour, quiver of 50 arrows, longbow, dagger, 50’ rope, 12 iron spikes, 10 torches, leather backpack, iron rations, flask 3180gp
Apart from the names of the characters and the town, all of this came up organically to answer questions posed by the shape of the maps and the results of the Wandering Monster table. I'm excited to discover what the trio learn about next!
World-building Notes
An elf was sent to help them – an ally of Kelial’s?
What happened to Eddorn? Where did he go?
Elves are after Kelial, and have now been misdirected by the party. Potential enemies?
The kobold leader was allowed to live: will he repay the party with gratitude or hatred?
One of four unexpected dwarves in the ruin was allowed to leave. Yes, he rolled a 12 on the Reaction Roll, but the party did murder all his friends. He’d be right to be ticked.
Who were the berserkers? How did they get separated and why was only one of them enraged? Are they connected to the Woodwoads?
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