Session 17 - Magic and Goblins and Wolves, Oh My

Nevermore: You don’t seem to be very good with that pike of yours.

Fritz: Yet somehow it's better than the hammer I was using.

Nevermore: ...oh.

Fritz: I'm new to this whole fighter thing.

Plot points/Scenes

Flee

• We are settled from our short nap and are ready to face the world
• Line up, pleasure barge in front, walkers behind defending the unarmored back side
• We exit….things are quiet
  • Nymph/Drac are out in the woods somewhere chasing down the goblins that were surrounding the entrance
  • We didn’t discuss where we were going to go….back it up.
    • DM suggests we go to Ambervern
    • It’s 2am
      • sneaky bastard, we told him to attack at noon and he went for midnight exactly
    • There is a lengthy discussion, but we ultimately decide to go to the research outpost first
      • It would be more convenient to just pitstop there on the way to Ambervern, but it’s almost directly north and Ambervern is almost directly south
        • Facility is only ~7 miles away but it’s a harsh trek through the mountains so it’ll take about 2 days moving carefully but not stealthily (the pleasure barge is not a subtle mistress)
      • The researchers are the ones most likely to know what just happened
      • Jeochhmann is also still up there, and he and the 15 researchers and 5 security detail (and 5 mechanical spiders) don’t have enough rations to last while, nor do they have the means to transport enough rations to get them out of the mountains if they tried
      • It’s winter in the mountains, that’s the direction of the initial explosion, and we have really limited resources but we have to try or they’re as good as dead
  • Before we leave, Fritz asks Jarvis to initiate full system shutdown
    • Power still flows out (it’s a background process)
    • Nobody will be able to enter/exit the facility or issue orders
    • It will take a physical key (which Fritz gets Jarvis to program for her) to restart the system
    • Exit the door...and a bunch of goblins jump down off the ledges above the facility doors...ROLL INITIATIVE

COMBAT - “These wolves breathe what?”

• Jalan kills one with sneak attack, a heretofore unnoticed hobgoblin one jumps on him from behind and hits for a metric shit tonne of sneak attack damage
• Jalan’s mercenaries converge on their master to protect
• Drant offers everyone extra movement speed and light so that even the mundane people can see
• A wolf comes out of the shadows and breathes a cone of cold over most of the caravan, then darts away into the shadows, crit fails TWICE (with advantage) at trying to hide
• Fritz smashes the goblin in front of her into a pulp then pursues the wolf into the woods with her extra movement speed, making sure that if the wolf tries to go back to the caravan it’ll take an attack of opportunity
• Goblins deal a bit of damage, but also miss a lot, Gregory cleaves a goblin in half
• Another wolf comes at the caravan from the opposite side and breathes a cone of cold across the caravan, nearly killing two mercenaries but nevermind because they were inside the pleasure barge and had partial protection
• Jalan rapiers the hobgoblin who then attacks the mercenaries flanking him, killing one
• Everyone with a crossbow holds an action to shoot the wolf if it reappears
• Gregory finishes off the hobgoblin assaulting Jalan
• Another wolf comes out from the shadows towards Fritz (engaged with a wolf and separated from the caravan)
  • The jumpy trigger-happy crossbowmen release, deal 20 damage
  • Nevermore makes a quick motion, and some ghostly shackles tangle up its feet, it falls prone and skids to Fritz’ feet (she cackles)
• Drant rounds the corner and targets the wolf on the other side of Fritz, pulling it 10 feet towards him….right into Fritz (she fails an acrobatics check and takes damage)
  • F: *quietly offended* “Drant. I’m right here.”
• Wolf that got pulled attacks Drant, misses
• Fritz takes an adrenaline shot and takes a swing at the wolf prone on the ground in front of her, rolls a nat 1 to deal damage
• All the goblins are now dead, Jalan crossbows a wolf but misses, another wolf comes from the shadows and cold breathes the pleasure barge, which is now damaged enough that the people inside can take damage
• Gregory risks it for the biscuit but whiffs both swings
• The wolf at Fritz’s feet gets up and fucks her shit up, taking out half her health, she retaliates by stabby stabbing then getting the FUCK out with her hasted action, sheltering behind the pleasure barge by Jalan
  • J: “are we….are we staying back here now? Cause wolves are scary?”
  • F: “I mean…..we’ve gotta kill them…”
  • J: “......”
  • F: “…...that’s about it.”
  • J: “.......cool.” *proceeds to crit on a crossbow strike against a wolf*
• Nevermore shoots a huge firebolt and destroys a wolf
  • F: “Bad ass”
  • DM: “Did you just say dat ass?”
  • J: “Por que no los dos?”
  • F: “I mean, I am standing right behind him. I can see everything...( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
    • **fun fact, DM actually thought I said that ass as in “he’s an asshole” and I misheard that too we’re all a mess
• Gregory risks it for the biscuit and hits both times, earning his salary
• Drant is knocked down and damaged by one wolf, he casts Blur and gets back up, next puppy is also hungry for bug and bites Drant
• Fritz squeaks under the pleasure barge and engages the backside of one of the wolves assaulting Drant, hoping to draw its attention (and its teammate’s Advantage) away, hits but rolls natural 1s on all the damages
  • F *looking at the pike in betrayal, whispers* “but why”
• Jalan uncharacteristically engages in melee with the same wolf as Fritz
  • F: “whaaaat no way”
  • J: “you keep running into stupid situations and you look hurt, I’ve gotta protect you”
  • F: “aww boo”
• DM is mad that none of his wolves can recharge their breath weapons, Fritz is mad she chose Advantage on Dex saves as her haste ability
• Mercenaries try to deal damage but they’re basically useless
  • J: “who hired these scrubs”
• Gregory critz on a wolf and murders it, risks it for the biscuit on another wolf but misses it
• DM rolls to recharge breath again
  • DM: “........dammit”
  • F: “have they recharged once?”
  • DM: “nope………..and there’s four of them”
  • *immediately fails another recharge check*
• Wolf attacks Drant but misses
  • J: “wtf is your AC”
  • DM: “19”
  • J: “how did you get 19 AC? you madlad”
  • D: “uuuuh my AC is not 19?”
  • DM: “.........whAT.”
  • F: “um, my AC is 19??”
  • D: “you’ve been doing this the whole time but I haven’t said anything tho”
  • DM: “WHAT”
  • D: “why u gotta hurt me so much” *whimpers*
• Fritz deals some damage to a wolf, Jalan finishes it off, Drant goes down, the last wolf tries to make off with its trophy (Drant), Gregory sentinel-boops him and stops it
• Fritz moves around the other side of it and absolutely pulverizes it, using an action surge and beating it after it’s dead

Post-Combat Breather

• Fritz pours her last healing potion down Drant’s throat
  • F *reprimanding*: “twice, Drant. Twice.”
  • D: “oh, i’M sOrRry”
• Hear a sharp, loud noise, see what looks like Northern Lights off in the distance, more or less from the direction of the research outpost, an ethereal voice emanates from miles off in that direction but none of us understand the language
• Vague sound of screaming coming from deep in the facility, Nevermore points out that his spell has worn off and the shrieking draugr are coming, we don’t have time to rest and we’ve got to move now
• Drant calls his bugs, Nymph and Drac have taken down about 2 dozen goblins independently but sustained heavy blows, the babies are fine
  • Hear some screams from behind us a ways
    • Brother Gurp surrounded by three goblins screaming “NOOO! LEAVE THEM ALONE!” and promptly smashes them into a pulp
      • BG: *quietly* “i have protected the holy cattle”
      • The rust bugs are surprisingly following him and his derpy dog like a shepherd
• Nevermore apologizes for not being more useful
  • F: “Nah it’s cool, you might’ve dealt more damage than me that entire fight anyway”
  • N: “yes, you don’t seem to be very good with that pike of yours”
  • F: “yet somehow it’s better than the hammer I was using”
  • N: “....oh.”
  • F: “yeah, I’m kinda new to this whole ‘fighter’ thing”
• Terrence emerges from the surrounding woods
  • J: “Terrence what the fuck is happening”
  • He describes that all of the monster races in town (T: “yes, I’m racist”) on the turn of a dime became violent and started attacking things, an Obsidian Guard in the town showed his prowess and fucked shit up, Terrence managed to get out of town
    • Mentions that what we were attacked by was pretty tame considering, but from what he understood (?) we were supposed to have died already
      • Fritz is suspicious
      • Requests that he stick close by us for safety since he’s our employee and he barely survived as it is
    • Asks why Nevermore is out of his cage, Fritz steps in front of him defensively, Jalan says that he’s in our custody for now
    • Says “whatever, your guys’ funeral”, starts walking towards Ambervern
      • J: “uuuuh, we’re not going that way”
      • T: “fine by me” *turns around and walks the way we’re going*
  • Facility’s security doors are shut and hopefully able to hold in the screaming draugr, system is on full manual shut down, and we’ve got everything important out from inside…...say goodbye to the power plant. We trek northward
  • LEVEL UP!! LEVEL 6!

Plot type

Session

Parent Plot

Act 2: Uprooted