Freeport Campaign

The group awoke before dawn, prepared themselves, and trekked off down the road. They turned off onto the game trail the innkeeper had mentioned, with Chow scouting ahead. About a quarter-mile up the trail, he motioned a halt and telepathically noted that he had heard voices on the trail ahead, speaking in the language that Gor-bob and Torya used when they were really mad at each other. As Chow crept closer to get a visual identification of the voices’ source, the conversation stopped. The scout then heard some stealthy movement in the thick jungle on either side of the trail and picked up some whispered communication in a different language of yips and growls. Chow mentally warned the rest of the party about the incoming threat, feigned dismay at his own ineptitude, and took off running back up the trail.

Two gnolls followed him through the jungle as a larger two-headed creature bounded behind them along the trail. Spike intercepted the massive ettin before it could threaten Balama or Richard, and the gnolls flanked the swordsman as soon as he showed himself. Despite being hampered by poor visibility through the thick undergrowth, the party made quick work of the ettin and gnoll scouts. The party noted that the creatures had been well-equipped – all three had carried magical weapons and armor, along with a few other tidbits that could bolster either a ship’s crew or the party’s coffers.

The group continued up the trail and soon found themselves at the edge of a cliff overlooking a lake below a familiar waterfall – they had captured and flown the Cloud Ant over this spot three months ago. Talking quietly about the Crimson Fleet magicians who had escaped from the airship and about the unreliability of bound elementals as a sole means of airborne locomotion, the group steeled themselves to navigate the narrow ledge between the edge of the cliff and the cave behind the waterfall. Most of the group made it across fine, but Chow slipped on the slick rocks and plunged into the lake below. The former ship’s cook climbed slowly and carefully back up the cliff face and joined his amused compatriots in the cave mouth a few minutes later. Light sources in hand, they began their search for the Tomb and the Black Blade.

Fortunately for the rest of the party, Chow scouted ahead a bit, spotting a nearly invisible tripwire strung across the width of the first larger cave they entered. The wire appeared set to trigger a massive ceiling collapse in the center of the room, so they draped thin strips of cloth over the wire in case they needed to activate the trap to cover their escape.

Chow took the lead again, but almost immediately used the group’s telepathic link to call a halt just outside the rigged cave when he spotted a cadre of ogres resting in another, larger cave beyond. Spike strode forth into the narrow cave opening and challenged the ogres: “Okay, which one of you bastards wants to die first?” The results were predictable – several of the brutes charged, while the rest hurled ineffectual javelins at the seemingly puny human. Four of the seven ogres died within seconds from a combination of rapier thrusts and magical attacks, and the other three dropped their weapons after a quick series of meaningful looks.

The survivors sat on the floor in the center of the cave, as directed by the party, and warned the group not to venture too near the chasm that dropped off at the northern end of the cave. They claimed that “ghosts” sometimes rushed up from the depths to harass the ogres with jolts of lightning, but informed the party that Graf, the ogres’ chieftain, received some kind of protection from his consort, a “shorter” old woman named Henfels, which kept the ghosts from bothering him when he crossed the bridge across the chasm. They claimed no knowledge of any tomb further in the complex, being confined to their quarters by the malicious ghosts.

After a few more minutes of conversation and negotiations, the party agreed to let the ogres leave the cavern complex alive, and the brutes shuffled off toward the waterfall. Chow’s further investigations of the cave revealed a chest hidden behind some barrels of fetid “piss-water” in a corner near the bridge. Buried beneath shards of bone and shiny rocks, the rogue found a pile of coins, a couple of gems, and a magical ring. Meanwhile, Spike approached the edge of the chasm. Peering into the depths, he noted the presence of eight balls of energy that would normally have been invisible if not for the group’s prior expenditure specifically mitigating that lack. Remembering childhood tales of such creatures that fed on negative emotion such as anger, fear, hatred, and panic, he issued a combined offer and threat into the void below. The nearest will-o’-wisp responded, “We cannot feed on faint irritation; you may pass,” before descending to the bottom of the chasm. Chuckling, the group filed across the stone bridge into the next cavern.

Chow led the way, followed by Spike, and Balama and Richard brought up the rear. When the last two party members entered the cavern, the weakened floor beneath the group collapsed, bringing the walls and ceiling down as well. Being nearly out of the cave at the north end, Chow managed to avoid being pinned in the rubble, but the rest of his comrades were buried under tons of rock. Their mental link confirmed that everyone was still alive, but they were in pain and running out of air. Experienced adventurers, they remained calm, assessed the situation quickly, and used a combination of magic and strength to extricate themselves. Richard patched everyone up, and the group continued past the cave-in to a T-intersection in the passage beyond.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS