Session 9: The holey Owlbear

Andrios, 11th of Anagrypnion

General Summary

The council returned to the camp area to discuss in private how to proceed. After some internal discussion, the council decides to deal with the owlbear and then form a decision about what to do with the wolves. The council decides they'll take a nap to recover from their encounter with Dawn and then fight the owlbear. Everyone except for Kadmos gets ready to rest while Kadmos informs Flame and Frost their plan. Flame takes off with Sweet Potato to find the owlbear while Frost remains with the council, offering to keep watch while the council rests. Meanwhile, Kaliaros takes the opportunity to attempt to brew some tonics with the Yarrow he found but unfortunately doesn't get the ratio right. Fennan takes to working on his crossbow, trying to finds ways to improve it. Kadmos returns and keeps watch near the campfire. After about 4 hours, everyone begins to wake up from their hasty nap. As usual, Kaliaros and Nir cast their protective magics but this time, instead of a smooth blue layer forming around Nir, it's a violent purple armor. Fennan, sets up some target practice for his improved crossbow, it now has an odd-looking attachment where the bolts would go and a sight to aim through. As he fires the crossbow at a small stone, it fires a magical bolt that vanishes once it hit the target. Melanthos and the rest of the council packs up camp while Fyx ensures they're all inspired with extra fortitude. With everything packed up, the group approaches Frost and they set off to meet up with Flame. While marching through the forest, Frost mentions that a human called Lukos accompanied by another human that he doesn't recalled the name passed through not long ago while Kadmos went to take care of nature's calling behind a bush. Frost asks what's the council's plan for the pack after the owlbear is dealt with. As Nir begins to discuss the possibility of the wolves joining the Wardens, her purple armor takes the shape of a spectral dagger and stabs her in the brain causing immense pain. The council worries for her wellbeing but after a 5-minute rest Nir seems to recover and her magical armor is back to its normal translucent blue. Meanwhile, Kadmos starts clearing the path ahead to help the rest of the council who aren't used to traveling in the forest, this makes them reach their destination much faster. During the short rest, Fyx ensures that Nir is properly inspired and as the vigor needed for the upcoming fight. The group resumes the hike. continuing the conversation Nir and Frost were having before Nir's magic flared up, Nir goes deeper into detail on the possibility of the wolves helping Andrios. This catches Frost's attention as he's very interested in learning more. Nir and Frost spend the rest of the time talking about Meletis, books, scrolls and other topics. After some time, the group runs into Sweet Potato who alerts that the owlbear is about an hour ahead of them. The group then continues in silence the rest of the way, anticipating the encounter. Kaliaros, with a circular motion of his arms and a prayer to Nylea, causes swirling fog to envelop the council, making them much harder to spot. Flame is visible from a few dozen feet with his red highlights but he's out of light of sigh from the owlbear. The group peeks and sees the owlbear pacing around near some ruins, Melanthos however doesn't see anything. As agreed, Flame and Frost would stay behind, Frost promised he'd warn Andrios if anything happened to the council though. Melanthos, unable to see the owlbear, remains a bit further behind, ready to join the frey if he's able to see the owlbear.

The group approaches the small clearing from the west, using the large rocks as cover. Then, they decide to split in two, one group going north and the other south to surround the owlbear. Unfortunately, even with Kaliaro's swirling mist, the group still caught the owlbear's attention. Fyx on the southern group trips on a small rock, and Kadmos to the north steps on some dry branches alerting the owlbear to both groups' presence. The owlbear charges towards the group in a frenzy. Kadmos, being the fastest to react, pulls out his bow and tries to hit the owlbear preemptively but unfortunately fires the arrow way off. Meanwhile, Kaliaros focuses on his specialty: disabling the enemy. He casts a spell said to invoke fire from the mythological fae folk. With a single spoken phrase, light plays over his hand in dazzling patterns, Kaliaros unleashes the flames in an area near the owlbear. Unable to jump away in time, the owlbear finds itself outlined in colored flames. The illusory flames don’t burn, but they certainly make the owlbear easier to see and to target. Fyx begins to play a somber song, draining the owlbear of its energy and clearly slowing it down. At the same time, Fennan, now with his improved crossbow and the colorful outlines is hitting every shot from his crossbow. Nir gestures a slashing motion and causes water to emerge around the owlbear, taking the form of multiple blades and slashing into the owlbear's side, causing deep gashes. Krinos charges the owlbear from the side, mauling it and trying to topple it but it's too heavy. The owlbear focuses its attention on the closest target: Kadmos. It goes into taking two huge swipes at Kadmos with his claws, however, Kadmos' armor and shield manage to protect him. Now in melee with the owlbear, Kadmos replaces his bow with his mace, gripping it in his hand and speaking an ancient prayer to nature. With a sudden, groaning creak, the mace becomes as unyielding as stone. Significantly increasing in density and now covered in vines. Kadmos uses his shillelagh and pummels the owlbear in his glowing face. As this all happens, Fyx tries to reach a safe vantage point on top of the rocks. Unfortunately, he slips, a few times.

The battle goes on for a time, the council trying their best to bring the giant beast down and the beast failing to hit Kadmos. Eventualy, with a blast of dark energy, Nir blasts a hole through the owlbear's side. The flesh around the new hole begins to fall off as if rotten, the smell of rotting flesh is almost unbearable. Along with the flesh that begins to fall off, swarms of maggots overflows out of the owlbear's hole. Kadmos tries to jump out of the way but some of them still land on him and begin to burrow under his skin making their way to his heart which hurts quite a bit. The owlbear seems unphased and continues to maul at Kadmos. Not knowing what to do, the council continue to strike at the owlbear, ignoring the swarms of maggots slowly making their way to Kadmos. From north, Flame leaps out, the red highlights in his fur replaced with what seems to be actual flames. Flame lets out a huge breath of fire in a cone in front of him, engulfing the owlbear, the maggots, and Kadmos in flames. Although the burns hurt, Kadmos noticed that the maggots that had burrowed under his skin slithered out of the hole they had entered from, now dead. Flame let out a shout warning the council not to let the maggots touch them. Similarly, Frost leaped out from the south. His fur now seemingly made of icicles let out a stream of ice in a line, hitting the swarm of maggots along with Kadmos. He let out a shout telling the council to focus on the owlbear, the brothers would deal with the maggots. The fight continues, the owlbear manages to get a single hit in on Kadmos and the council continues to strike at it. Meanwhile, the maggots slowly make their way and swarm Kadmos, resulting in several of them entering his body. Seeing Kadmos struggling and a window of opportunity given that the owlbear was so focused on Kadmos, Krinos digs in claws into the owlbear's back from behind, leaps up, grabs the owlbear's head with his claws and rips it off. With the owlbear dead, the council now joins the wolves in dealing with the maggots. After some well-placed strikes, the maggots all die. Leaving on the ones within Kadmos. Most of the council didn't know how to react or deal with the maggots slowly making their way to Kadmos' heart which would surely kill him. Calmly, in a darker more somber tone Fyx begins to whisper, as his whispers continue the maggots begin to writhe under Kadmos' skin until they die and slither out the holes they entered.

With all threats dealt with, almost everyone sighs with relief. Except for Kaliaros who rushes to Kadmos with bandages at hand to quell the bleeding. Slowly, the council gathers around the owlbear's corpse and they begin to discuss the event with each other. Shortly after, the winds begin to pick up, an eerie silence falls on the forest, everyone's senses seem to dull, their perception of time distorts and they are unable to move or react. Near the ruins the council notices a young woman sitting on a ruined statue they hadn't noticed before, slowly a middle-aged woman joins her from the forest. The young woman gets up and they both approach the corpse of the owlbear.

The council hears them discuss the event, the women treat each other by Dacia and Epistatis. Dacia mentions that the owlbear wasn't one of her beasts and both women seem to not quite understand its origin. Still, Epistatis mentions that the council should be commended for dealing with the beast and their success came as a surprise. Dacia too commends the council and throws Kadmos a coin she conjured. As the two women begin to leave, Kaliaros manages to come to his sense and asks the women if there are more of these beasts, Epistatis replies saying that she doesn't know. The two women move out of line of sight, the winds seem to drop and everyone comes to their senses. They discuss who the women might be, Kadmos inspects the coin he was given and decides to investigate the ruins where Dacia was sitting. Meanwhile, Sweet Potato arrives with a pouch, Frost explains that they only wanted food from the merchants and that they have no need to precious gems.

Report Date

22 Feb 2022

Reputation with the gods