We begin with the group chasing the caravan, tracking it down to retrieve
their possessions and for vengeance. Katrie leads the way, using her elven eyes
and knowledge of nature to help her and her companions catch up. After 2 days,
she catches wind of a group of the Argosy's outrunners, 5 of them, and runs back
to warn her companions.
The outrunners, though, had spotted Katrie and followed her tracks. The party
decides to hide in a small field of bolders and rocks so that they can ambush
the group.
Gundrek goes first. He rushes forth and attacks one of the outrunners, an
elven archer riding an Erdlu. While the rest of the outrunners move in to
surround him, Katrie maneuvers around behind their group to attack the same
archer and crits, killing him. Tor Val charges the Outrunner leader, a huge Half
Giant wielding a great club the size of a tree trunk. The two clash, and Tor Val
deals a staggering blow. The half giant commander, though, remains focused on
Gundrek and swings his massive club, knocking Gundrek prone and likely breaking
every rib on the left side of his body. The final elven archer attacks the
group, hitting Kratas, while the remaining outrunners maneuver to contain the
party. Kratas moves in to heal Gundrek, and is hamstrung by one of the
outrunners, which makes him fall prone. While he tries to get up, the outrunner
continues to knock him back down to keep him occupied. Meanwhile, Katrie knocks
the other outrunner off of his Erdlu while Dryder kills the last Archer.
Soon, the battle is ended. The party, a little worse for the wear, discusses
how to attack the caravan without getting overwhelmed. Kratas notices that the
outrunners they just killed were of similar build and stature to their group;
the outrunners had two elves, two humans, and a half-giant. He and Dryder hatch
a devious plan to wear the outrunners' outfits, rush back to the caravan on the
stolen Erdlu's and Crodlu, and try to bluff their way into the Caravan.
Using the bloodied outfits of the outrunners, the group rides back to the
caravan, which is surrounded by no less than 30 House Shom soldiers. On top of
the Argosy, a large group of archers peers down at the group as they approach.
Behind, 20 slaves, nearly naked and all dehydrated, are pulled along, bound
together by a giant hair rope. Kratas yells, "To Arms!! They've found us! House
Amketch warriors approaching," while Dryder yells that they have wounded. The
soldiers immediately gather their arms and wave the group through, urging them
into the argosy and to the infirmary. As the group dismounts and enters the
argosy, groups of soldiers and archers pour out. Dryder then closes the argosy
doors and locks them behind them.
(Kratas rolled kind of low on his Bluff check, but due to their plan, and the
edginess of the soldiers, I gave the enemy soldiers a penalty to their insight
rolls. Incidentally, they rolled a 1 on their insight, so they believed
everything the party said).
The party rushes upstairs, locking doors behind them. They believe that due
to the value of their magical equipment, it would likely be upstairs in the
Captain's quarters. They arrive to find the door locked, and Dryder quickly
picks the lock and retrieves their equipment. Then, they head to the bridge. The
archers, recognizing them from below, announce that Bezrak and Holtet were
waiting for their report in the bridge.
The group has a surprise round ready. Splitting up, they head into the bridge
from separate doors and lock the doors behind them. Within, Bezrak, Gundrek and
Agristes are discussing the false news that the party had shouted on their way
in. None of them suspects anything as the party attacks.
Katrie summons her toad, who begins attacking Agristes. Tor Val charges
Holtet and crits, doing massive amounts of damage. Holtet, staggering from the
mighty blow, shouts a warning, and Gundrek moves in front of Bezrak so that he
could occupy him. Agristes suddenly reveals that he is a psion, and dominates
Tor Val. Holtet marks Tor Val, and Bezrak uses a Bull's Strength to push
everyone away from him (he's a battlemind). Tor Val, still dominated by
Agristes, attacks Gundrek, which violates Holtet's mark. Holtet slashes at him
with his battleaxe. Agristes then dominates Dryder, who attacks Tor Val as well.
Holtet moves out of Tor Val's range and attacks Katrie. Meanwhile, the Frog
continues to happily munch on Agristes and Gundrek tries to keep Bezrak
occupied. Tor Val, no longer dominated, rushes after Holtet and attacks. Bezrak
interrupts him, using Lightning Stride to flash over to where Tor Val is about
to attack. Bezrak nails Tor Val and forces him to attack himself instead of
Holtet, which again violates Holtet's mark. Agristes, heavily wounded by the
toad, falls to an attack from Kratas. Dryder, Katrie and Gundrek team up on
Bezrak and bring him down, and Tor Val and Holtet continue to exchange blows.
Outside the bridge, the Archers have realized that something is wrong and try to
break into the Bridge, bursting in and peppering the party with arrows. Katrie
moves her frog to occupy them, and Gundrek blocks them off so that the rest of
the group can finish off Holtet.
This battle was intense. The close quarters and the combination attacks of
Holtet and Bezrak nearly brings Tor Val down, and Agristes dominating party
members was an extreme annoyance. The entire fight was a tribute to excellent
tactics and poor rolls (from both sides).
Soon, the combat is over. Kratas rushes to the upper deck and yells down to
the remaining soldiers (the rest having moved a little further east to meet with
the alleged Amketch soldiers) that Bezrak wants them to bring the slaves into
the Argosy so that they could lock it down and prepare for the (fake) attack. He
rolls EXTREMELY well on his bluff check, and the group moves down to help the
slaves into the argosy. They then lock down the caravan, arm the slaves, and
attack the remaining guards through the Argosy archer slits and murder
holes.
With the Argosy now back under their control, the former slaves (House
Amketch caravan members) all freed, the party debates on returning to Nibenay
and returning with the Caravan, and news of the sabotage and betrayal of Bezrak.
However, they still don't know where the beetles are coming from...
The MVP of this session is the Frog (the party voted this, mind you). He
damaged and took out more enemies than the rest of the party. The group has
fondly given him the nickname of Hypnotoad. All hail the Hypnotoad!!
The day is now the 2nd day of Hoard in the Season of Sun Ascending, in the
Year of Enemy's Vengeance, 190th King's Age.
