Session XIII: The Trek to Drezen Continues Report

General Summary

The party and army wakes up, prepares and begins to head towards Drezen. They march through the barren wastelands of the edge of the Worldwound with Anevia Tirabade scouting ahead to make sure the way is clear. The army arrives at Keeper's Canyon, a location that Anevia reports seems to be fortified by Tieflings and Cultists. The party then assembles the War group together to discuss tactics. They suggest a few different tactics, but their location is a little too fortified against groups coming down the canyon. The party eventually decides that it might be best to draw them out. The party decides to attack the standing armies, and decides to focus on the dretches first, taking them down with a hefty Smite attack.

After the party recovers, they attack the Tieflings and rout them, scattering the survivors to the Worldwound. The army then marches inwards away from the river and into the desolate wasteland of the Worldwound, marching directly towards Drezen in a barren, and dry wasteland. After a few miles, they camp for the night amongst the eerie darkness and silence. Bosco has been observing a person that has been providing a lot of negative morale. Bosco pulls Reid aside and discusses it with him, and leads Bosco to the person that is having a problem with the trek to Drezen. There is an older lieutenant by the name of Arles Jhestander.

He is sowing discourse amongst the rest of the camp, and, due to his seniority and experience, he has the ear of many different Paladins amongst the army. He is a gruff man that has been in many battles over the years. Reid enters into the makeshift barrack that the army has erected, Reid observes Arles and determines that there is no charm placed upon him, he just seems downtrodden about everything. When the party approaches with Jorryn at the front, he looks up and says with lots of facetiousness in his voice, "Ahh look, the saviors." Jorryn speaks up and introduces himself, and asks what is going on. Arles, not one to mince words responds with an "as far as I'm concerned, you're all not going to succeed when we get further into the Worldwound. Every single time that we head into the Worldwound, its just to die." Jorryn confirms that is what Arles expects to happen. He explains that every time a group enters into the Worldwound, the only thing that returns is their helmets. Jorryn explains that if they don't succeed his family may die, and his is a necessary task to undertake. He says that he would never leave his brothers here to die, but it may come to pass that he'll see his brothers in arms die at his hands. Jorryn then sits down with Arles and asks him for his help, and he completely flubs his lines, and Arles blows him off a little. Jorryn attempts to continue, but Arles then tries to dismiss the party. Reid then nudges Bosco to try to speak up and convince Arles to return his ways. Bosco speaks up and attempts to appeal to the personality of Arles trying to defend the world against the Worldwound, and that they need Arles' and the rest of the Paladins help to accomplish their goal of trying to win, and that we need to try. His words move those that are listening, and it kind of diffuses the situation for a day. Bosco then pulls him aside and says that no one would fault him if he decided to leave. These words disgust Arles and he leaves to get ready for bed. The party then notifies Irabeth, which is already familiar with Arles, and she lets the party its not the best pick, but he is also the most experienced. Irabeth says that there's not a lot she can do, and decides to go to sleep. The party settles down for the night. They decide to cast Augury and ask the wind if talking to Arles now will do anything better. He gets an unknown response, and they continue discussing. They think to try to deliver Arles a dream message, but they ultimately cast it, and then shut down for the night.

As everyone is settling down for the night, the army is ambushed by a single Incubi start sneaking into the camp, getting ready to assassinate a bunch of the paladins. Yuhia notices one of the Incubus and charges the one attacking Bosco. Setra then whips around and shoots at the demon. The demon attacks Bosco back and then Yuhia slides around to flank with Bosco, attacking the Incubus. Reid then steps back and yells out to wake up the camp, and throws an Aqueous Orb around the demon. This dispatches it as everyone wakes up to find there's nothing to do.

In the morning, the army and party wakes up to take stock of their surroundings. It seems the morning has come later than usual, and the party looks out to the Canyon. Arles coming out of his tent seems unaffected. The army begins marching, and, after an hour, the scouts come back discovering a temple above one of the ridges. They consult with Irabeth and Sosiel, and Sosiel explains there might be some caches, although Jorryn says that there might be demons that may need to be cleared out. They ultimately decide to use Augury to figure out if it would be bad to explore, and the result in no result. Reid then casts communal spider climb on the party and they begin climbing up the cliff up to the temple. They climb up to the temple and find a small courtyard with smashed gates, with two main buildings. Atop all of the edges of the roof is many pious statues. As they head into the courtyard, they discover a pile of well-knawed bones. They head up to the doors, and discover a building that is long since destroyed. As the party somewhat separates, a fight begins as a bunch of gargoyles descend onto the back of the party.

The gargoyles surround Setra and then Setra fires back at the Gargoyles as more drop down around Reid and Yuhia. A Gargoyle charges Emily the Wolverine with a claw and deals a bunch of damage. Another Gargoyle charges Setra and does some damage, while a third gargoyle damages Reid, while a fourth damages Yuhia. A fifth Gargoyle downs Emily, and then moves into attacking Setra with a massive strike of damage, and a second Gargoyle moves up to continue bringing Setra some more damage. Yuhia, confused by the attack misses the Gargoyle and Jorryn moves up, buffing a little bit. The Gargoyle next to Reid then swipes some more at Reid, dealing a bunch of damage, while Yuhia takes a little bit from the Gargoyle that she is dealing with. Setra then winds back and shoots at one of the Gargoyles, while another one moves up on Bosco, chomping at a rock. Bosco begins his Bardic Performance, using Oracular Performance, which ends in Woe for Yuhia, not making it as effective, and then Bosco uses Deadly Throw at one of the Gargoyles, chipping away at its armor. Reid then steps away from the Gargoyle that was attacking him and blinds two Gargoyles, as one of the blind Gargoyles swipes blindly at Setra, landing one lucky hit. Yuhia then swipes at her Gargoyle, dealing a chip of damage. Jorryn steps up and channels energy, healing the party. Yuhia's gargoyle misses a bit, and then chips away some damage at Yuhia. Emily wakes up from the channeled energy and then wakes up and escapes. Setra then moves back and shoots at a Gargoyle to try to take it out, and she succeeds. Bosco heals himself up, and steps back, and throws a starknife at the gargoyle on Yuhia. Reid then webs one of the Gargoyles and steps back into the ruined building. Yuhia chips a little at her Gargoyle and then Jorryn moves up to shank the gargoyle that is currently blind. One of the other Gargoyles surrounds Yuhia and flanks her, dealing some damage. Setra then dispatches another gargoyle, while Bosco moves over and picks up his Starknife. Reid then dispatches Magic Missile on one of the gargoyles, chipping a little damage away at it. Yuhia then chips away at the demon, and Jorryn does some damage, while the Gargoyles surrounding Yuhia, chip down at her health even more. Setra then reels back and deals some damage, while Yuhia continues to chip away at the Gargoyle she has been dealing with. Jorryn then moves up and chips more damage away the Gargoyle that is attacking Yuhia, while that Gargoyle attempts to continue whittling away at Yuhia's hitpoints. Setra continues to push down the final gargoyle's hitpoints, and then Bosco deals a little damage to the gargoyle, and Reid fills it with some arcane lead, and then Yuhia slices off the last part of its hitpoints. Finally, with the last gargoyles felled, the party takes stock of their surroundings and damage. They decide to explore the interior and find a small mound of weapons, some magical.

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