Session 49 Report: Fleeing the Dragon

General Summary

Session 49 – Wednesday August 23, 2023 – Fleeing the Dragon

  4.5 Hour Role Play/battle session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 6

It is the 8th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Early December.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L9 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf, L9 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda (Remote Dog sitting)
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L9 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Cassidy – Human, L9 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L9 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L9 Paladin – Will Johnson

Firestarter

Cassidy sneezed and Gazlowe popped back into existence right next to Cassidy, Isabella, Juan and Warfus. Abrash the eagle was still carrying Ajani and flying several hundred feet away as the Dragon flew over the canopy looking for the others. Gazlowe heard the dragon and said, “We have to burn the forest down!” Cassidy said, “Just do it!” Gazlowe started casting grease in 5 different spots and prepared to cast firebolt.

Ajani suggested that Abrash and he go into the caverns and escape that way. Abrash said they’d need to be sure to find the others and let them know. As they turned, they saw 5 forest locations burst into flames. Abrash said, “Gazlowe’s back.” The damp leaves caused an extensive smoke screen, as the flames remained below the canopy.

The Dragon flew over Gazlowe and the others, unable to see them through the smoke. The Dragon said, “Your diversion won’t work, My friends will find you.” Abrash saw the Dragon head back to its perch north of the cavern entrance and Abrash flew Ajani towards the flames. Cassidy fired a glowing crossbow bolt high into the sky. Abrash saw exactly where it came from and headed directly to it.

Dryads

Abrash flew below the canopy and found everyone else running through the thick trees and heading south. As Abrash approached, the others yelled, “RUN!” Abrash flew with them under the canopy, telling Gazlowe that the dyads are not going to be happy. Gazlowe suggested they could blame the green dragon. Abrash flew ahead a bit, finding a path through the thick forest. With his eagle eyes, he saw half a dozen dryads quickly striding through trees darting from one tree to another in the direction of the party.

Meanwhile, deer, elk, rabbits, and every other creature of the forest was running from the fire. The party scrambling in the same direction as the fleeing creatures. The dryads were approaching from the opposite direction and tree strode right past the party. The party saw the drayds heading to the fire. Water magically flung from their fingertips to douse the flames.

Fearing the dryads would blame the party, Ajani asked Abrash to stop. Ajani turned to the direction of the fire, snatched a wad of Rangeium from his pouch, and cast Silent Image right in the center of the fire. A large fire elemental appeared to be setting the forest ablaze. The dryads focused on it, dousing it with their Create Water spells. Ajani put on a spectacular show and had the fire elemental fizzle away into steam when enough water hit it. The party then turned and continued to flee the area.

Orc tracks

The party could only run full speed for so long. After a short sprint, they slowed their pace, but continued moving south through the thick woods. After an hour, they found a wide, beaten path in the forest. The trees and brush were knocked down by a massive beast. Gazlowe saw reptilian footprints and Orc footprints. Abrash and Cassidy recalled seeing Orcs moving south on a massive beast. The party realized they could move faster along this path and chose to follow the path blazed by the Orcs.

Tiny bugs

The party continued for a couple more hours and spotted a cloud of bugs in the distance covering the path. They got closer and realized it was just a massive swarm of gnat sized creatures and proceeded to move through cloud, covering their mouths. Abrash, still in his eagle form, flew Warfus over the cloud.

Ajani, familiar with sandstorms, wrapped his face well and moved through the cloud. Cassidy lit some incense to help keep the bugs away. Impressed Isabella tried to open her backpack and find something to cover her face. She immediately realized her error when thousands of bugs seemed to fly into her backpack. Barely able to see, she forged ahead and then tripped over the body of an Orc.

The others found that the bugs were heavy on the orc body and seemed to be eating them. Gazlowe felt the dead Orc’s body and determined it was killed by bludgeoning and slashing weapons and not the bugs. They moved on and Isabella fell over another dead Orc. They picked her up and helped her navigate the half a dozen or more other dead Orc bodies that were enveloped in this massive swarm.

As they exited the swarm, they realized the bugs were everywhere all over them. Infesting their armor, their clothes, and their backpacks. The bugs were not harming them, but they were cleaning their wounds, consuming just the dead flesh like maggots. Disgusted by the bugs, Gazlowe stepped out of his armor and cast Heat Metal to sanitize his suit.

Lunch time.

After another hour Abrash returned to his elf form and the party stopped for lunch. Isabella opened her backpack to get some rations and found they were all infested with bugs! Isabella cried, “I had 136lbs of rations! All ruined!” Abrash gave her the 5 rations he had. The party decided not to create a fire but to harvest some edible plants.

Cassidy and Abrash found an area with some edible roots, leaves and berries. Abrash noticed that many of the items had been harvested by someone else. They spotted footprints in the ground. They returned the others, and they all ate quickly. Cassidy and Juan went back to examine the footprints near the vegetables. Cassidy saw that there were 2 people and appeared to be relatively small human or elf. Juan knelt and licked the footprint. He stood up and said, “Mid 20’s human female.” They looked around and found that footprints followed a hidden path to the East.

The Gunga tribe.

The party didn’t take a short rest but decided to follow the footprints to the east. Abash spotted people hiding behind the trees who started to surround them. Abrash telepathically communicated this to the others. Gazlowe spoke up, “Hello, we mean you no harm.” Five Barbarian humans and a female shaman holding a heart in her hands walked out from behind the trees. They had a Bearhound with them that looked massive. One of the Barbarian’s named Grogor spoke and challenged the party to a provide a single champion to fight in single combat to the death or they all leave everything they have if they want to mostly leave alive.

Juan immediately accepted. Grogor was not expecting the challenge from Juan and expected Isabella to be the challenger, but he willingly accepted the challenge. The Stone Bearers cheated: Gazlowe gave Juan a piece of licorice root and cast haste on Juan. Cassidy cast shield of faith. The female shaman yelled at them to stop but the spells were already cast.

In under 60 seconds, Juan pulverized the tribe’s champion. Juan’s divinity spell stunned Grogor in fear. His spiritual weapon added smite on every attack. Grogor landed one hit on Juan, but his fate was sealed. He fell with a massive smite to his chest.

Seeing Grogor’s only remains as skeletal bones dead on the ground, Number Two Barbarian says, “Fair enough. You won. Where are you going?” He introduced himself as Grodu. The party explained that they’re heading south. Grodu, now welcoming the party as long-lost friends, mentioned that they’ve been seeing Orcs travelling south and have been picking them off with other Barbarian tribes along the route. To help his new friends, Grodu assured them of safe passage through the other barbarian tribes’ land. As proof, he took a necklace with 6 stone chicklets on it from the remains of Grogor and put it on Juan. He told him that the necklace would grant him safe passage from the tribes in this region and if anyone asks the password is “Gunga.”

The party asked for some food for the road. The barbarians escort the Stone Bearers to their camp and provide them with lunch. The party took a short rest. Cassidy gave the Shaman a beating heart in the jar. In exchange for the food, they accepted some of the spare weapons the party had including a spear, a makeshift club with a ogre head on it, and a morning star. The Gunga tribe gave the Stone Bearers a full day of rations. Isabella still sulked at the measly portion. Cassidy gave Isabella her share.

Gazlowe spent much of the time during the rest telling the Barbarians about the evil deeds of Eversus and how he started a fire in the forest etc. The Barbarians were mesmerized by the tales of such an evil man. After the short rest the party thanked the Gunga tribe and headed back to the trail blazed by the Orcs.

Butterflies of death

The walk was uneventful for several hours. They spotted various wildlife in the forest and noticed a few interesting red and green butterflies. A bit further down the road they came to a massive swarm of butterflies covering everything in a 30-foot radius around the path. They noticed several bodies of orcs on the ground in the trail and the butterflies were covering them. They also spotted a couple of human barbarian bodies. Juan grabbed one of the butterflies and ate it. While the wings more or less dissolved in his mouth, the body was crunchier than expected and he took a bit of poison damage. At the sound of the crunch, the entire swarm started to flutter and move to the Stone Bearers.

Abrash cast speak with animals and tried to explain and apologize to the butterflies. Ajani cast silent image to create a larger butterfly that looked just like them and had it fly into the forest to lead them away. Isabella did a similar thing with a minor illusion and used her ability to speak with animals to try to lead them away. The gargantuan Death Butterfly swarm however engulfed the party completely. Gazlowe was astonished that the butterflies had teeth and a poisonous bite. The butterflies critically hit Gazlowe and Juan for 48 points of piercing damage and the others for 24. Only Cassidy was spared a bit as the butterflies only hit her with a glancing blow. Nobody was poisoned but they all took some poison damage and Warfus fell down unconscious!

Juan thought Gazlowe was in the best position to do something and laid hands on him healing him for 40 points. Cassidy ran to Warfus and stabilized him. Gazlowe’s vizor popped up and a little projector extended from his helmet casting a Hypnotic pattern in attempts to charm the Swarm. Unfortunately, the swarm was immune to being charmed and the butterflies did not react. Seeing his plan didn’t work, he ran, but the sheer mass of the swarm slowed him down. Warfus woke up screaming and started swinging his war hammer. Cassidy saw the Warhammer wasn’t doing as much damage as it should, so she cursed the swarm to take more bludgeoning damage making Warfus’s attack more effective.

Abrash saw that Warfus was attacking and Gazlowe was running. Abrash ran in the opposite direction of Gazlowe and cast Wrath of Nature against the swarm. The creatures took a bit of damage from the animated rocks, but the butterflies were not affected by the difficult terrain. They avoided the slashing trees and were not restrained by the roots and vines. Ajani saw that Abrash’s spell didn’t do what he had hoped. The butterflies covered his face as he tried to cast a spell. Fortunately, Abrash noticed and was able to help Ajani avoid being blinded.

Ajani pulled out piece of paper and rolled it into a swatter. He pulled out his wand and chanted loudly, “Expecto Potronum!” casting Banishment on the swarm. Instantly the Swarm disappeared. Ajani yelled, “We have one minute! Run!” Bloodied and covered with bites the party ran as fast as they could, helping Warfus who was close to death.

Badly hurt in the forest

The whole party was in bad shape. Cassidy gave Warfus one of the healing potions she had so he could walk on his own. Gazlowe named the butterflies Gallywixious with the common name: “Death Butterflies.” After examining them for a moment Gazlowe realized that the creatures are easily killed by fire. Gazlowe pulled the Fireball scroll from his robe of useful items and handed it to Ajani explaining it’s not something Gazlowe could use and if they met them again perhaps the scroll would come in handy.

The party limped further south. As they went Abrash cast Goodberry and gave some berries to Juan and Ajani. The party continued walking along the trail blazed by the Orcs riding the gargantuan Scyza monstrosity. After a few hours they heard thunderous footsteps and realized they are actually catching up to the Orc tribe that was heading south.

This is your fault Warfus!

Abrash said, they’ve already fled from three battles today and they’re in bad shape. The party agreed to rest rather than head into another battle. Abrash cast Pass without a Trace to avoid being detected. Ajani noted that the Scyza can move the Orcs through the night, and they may be way ahead of them by morning.

Frustrated that the journey home is going to take hours, they started grilling Warfus. Warfus explained that Robin and his men had the ability to locate the fake Warmstone and find the Fey’ri. Gazlowe told him that Robin is dead, “Now what?” Warfus explained that Robin didn’t create the fake Warmstone, if they find the person who did make it, perhaps they could help. Warfus told them that Robin had it made in a village near the swamp near Morynarth.

Cassidy asked about the Wanted poster. Warfus explained that he had made an arrangement with a green dragon to get the help he needed. The green dragon is the one who knew Robin and set them up. In exchange for the services, Warfus was going to give the green dragon the famed diamond of Shy'ier. A massive blue diamond worth 5,000 gp. The party told him the Green Dragon is dead. The Stone Bearers asked if he still had the diamond, and he did. Abrash read his mind and knew that the diamond was in Warfus’s vault.

House Dlardrageth

Gazlowe asked Warfus to explain his need for vengeance and what was his plan to deal with the Fey’ri once he found them. Warfus tried to explain but they party saw that his plan was not well thought out. Warfus simply knows these Siluvanede Fey'ri (Sun elves tainted by demons) are said to be remnants of House Dlardrageth. House Dlargraeth was said to have been wiped out in -4,300 DR, about 5,850 years ago at the end of the Seven Citadel’s War (also known as the 6th Crown War.) These were the same elves that caused 3,000 years of War amongst the elves and slaughtered his ancestors in the Endless Caverns.

Wafrus explained that he had to lie to his wife about what was going on. Robin’s impersonation of the group to get into the stronghold was his idea. Gazlowe scolded Warfus for his dereliction of duty to the Stronghold and not having any real plan. Warfus shouted back that he had a good plan until Eversus killed everyone! Warfus told the party that if they helped him find and kill the Fey’ri then he’d give them the diamond of Shy’ier. Gazlowe speculated that the Fey’ri may be working with others, perhaps Niptu. He explained that they have a lot on their plate but agreed their goals may align.

Gart Brooks

Cassidy went to gather some food and Isabella persuaded the party to not light any fires. Cassidy brought back an Elk and Gazlowe used his Artificer magic to heat the metal pot and flash fry the meat. The party sat around the warm pot and Abrash noticed someone walking in the forest. Abrash cautiously went to investigate. Not too far from the tent, he spotted the back side of a human male wearing only a black stocking cap looking cold and lost. Abrash went back and told the others.

Returning to the Woods Abrash called out to the man and said, “Would you like some Elk?” Startled the man turned around and was clearly wearing nothing but the cap on his head. The man walked towards Abrash (who kept his eyes looking straight at his face.) The man introduced himself as Gart with a jovial happy attitude and a firm handshake. Gart asked if he had any clothes. Abrash brought him to the others and provide him with a robe and undergarments. Gart asked for food and shelter.

The others cautiously welcomed him and asking him how he wound up in a situation like this? He told them his name was Gart Brooks and that he’s a Bard. He laid out his story: “I was making his way from Longsaddle to Waterdeep. After a wonderful performance in Triboar at the 3 stones inn I met a beautiful young Tiefling names Humna. Turns out she's a lot younger than she told me as her father so rudely broke into my room told me. Apparently, he's some sort of sorcerer. I was grabbing my clothes when he stated waving his hands at me. All I was able to grab was this hat when the next thing I knew I was in this dark forest. I’ve been wandering around for over an hour looking for any signs of civilization.”

Songs of villains and heros.

Not sure how they felt about the situation, Gazlowe explained that he’s a long way from Triboar. Gart asked for some boots. They offered him some hide from the Elk and Galzowe created a Leatherworkers kit so they could make some boots. Grateful, Gart told them he’s a talented songwriter and will write a song of their good deeds and sing it to all on the Sword coast. Gazlowe questioned his attitude and Gart told him that he has a thing for Tiefling girls and had found himself in worse places.

Gart said, “If only I had my bagpipes.” Abrash gave him the lute they took from Robin’s body. Grateful, Gart started strumming and singing tales of his women. His singing was good, and he was very charismatic, but Isabella was still skeptical and asked the others, “What do we do with this guy?” Gazlowe asked what his plans were and Gart told them he was on his way to Waterdeep. He asked Ajani if he could just transport him to Waterdeep but Ajani told him he couldn’t. Gart asked if they could spare a bedroll and blanket. Juan became suspicious. Gart told him, “For your kindness I’ll write great songs of your deeds, tell me what you have done.”

Gazlowe became very excited. He began telling Gart of the evil Eversus. He exaggerated the stories of course but Gart got a quill and parchment from Ajani and started creating a magnificent song. Guided by Abrash and with Flash of Genius from Gazlowe the song was a magnificent work of art more compelling than anything ever written before.

They then worked on the tales of the Stone Bearers and while it wasn’t as good as the evil theme of Eversus, the song Gart came up with was still excellent. They explained all the deeds they had done and Gart was able to weave all their deeds into the song. The party sat around and talked for bit and then fell asleep in their tent.