Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (254 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (250 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (252 points)
Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (258 points)
Jahn the Bear - Bear (193 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf Wizard (250 points)
Amothius 24th, 2546, Swamp
Masha woke everybody else up as the mounds of vegetation shambled towards the shack, and picked up Argua's Lantern of Continual Light before opening the door. Everybody else managed to stand up and Puddin' Disappeared just as the mounds split up; one went towards the door, while the other started trying to batter the shack's walls down. Masha stepped out the front door and landed a kick, finding that their bodies did have some sort of central mass under the piles of rotting vegetation.
Zephyra readied a Flame Jet, and Argua charged out to help Masha while Elana got ready to attack the one bashing the walls if it broke through. Vaelcor was able to confirm that these were shambling mounds, sentient plants that are homogenous, immune to body control spells (Zephyra: "Damn it"), resistant to cold and fire (Zephyra: "GOD DAMN IT"), and healed by lightning. He also informed the others of its central mass, which was vulnerable to impaling attacks.
A pair of crits from Masha and Argua, as well as a claw and bite from Jahn the bear, dispatched the mound at the door without further issue. The other one finished smashing its way through the wall, and Elana speared it for minimal damage. Masha, Argua, and Jahn all rushed to flank, but were beat there by Puddin' who had been there the whole time! Unfortunately, her katar just kind of "schlorped" into the plant mass covering it.
Zephyra tried her Flame Jet anyway, but the shambling mound proved to be resistant indeed; it tried to grapple Elana, then Masha, but was parried. Masha, in turn, was crit-parried by the mound, and Zephyra tried out her Wand of Black Fireball, but it, too, had almost no effect. Once Argua and Jahn made it around the building, the combined attacks of the front-liners started to add up.
After another dodged grapple on Masha, the shambling mound finally succeeded at something and grappled Puddin' with a pile of vines. For a moment, Masha debated whether to risk hitting Puddin' ("I'll be fine if you hit me, Puddin' has medium plate armour now!" "My kicks do 4d+3 crush." Puddin': "...Okay I won't be fine if you hit me, just don't miss."), and ultimately a Rapid Strike of kicks was able to finish it off before it could strangle her.
After hearing that shambling mounds sometimes end up straining valuable stuff out of the environment, Puddin' immediately started burrowing her way through the rotting plants, finding a pair of potions and a scroll case with 1 scroll inside. Zephyra was able to identify one of the potions as Alchemist's Fire just by looking at it, but didn't want to try identifying the other one. After some thought ("Do scrolls activate immediately on reading?" "Nope. Well, unless they're cursed."), she tried to read the scroll but found it was in Dwarven runes; her Language Talent proved inadequate, and she was unable to decipher them.
Amothius 25th-28th, 2546
The party left Edith's shack and later that day emerged from the swamps and into the foothills of the Dirhin mountains. Vaelcor was in his element, as he's originally from the mountains, but he badly misjudged what the weather was like this time of year which ended up delaying them.
Amothius 29th, 2546, Dirhin Mountains
Early in the morning, the party came across the results of a landslide, which left a treacherous cliff in their way. Some exploring along its length found that there was no good way up to the west, while to the east, they found a 30m steep hill with some shrubs that would be easier to climb, with a pair of skeletons lying at the base. Puddin' went up to scout the skeletons and found that they were normal, non-animate skeletons, in fairly fancy, if ruined, red and black-dyed silk dresses.
She looked around before moving in to "inspect" (read: loot) the bodies, but the only movement was some giant winged beast off in the sky flapping leathery wings. Up close, it became obvious that the skeletons were dwarves, and that one was a child. Puddin' Searched the bodies, and found a silver signet ring with a black axe on red, as well as a gold necklace with a strange-looking key that she surmised was for an advanced lock.
Looking around some more, Puddin' spotted a weathered backpack hanging on thin straps from a branch further up a steeper part of the hill, which would be harder to get to. Puddin' stripped off her armour (except the helmet) and easily climbed up and grabbed the backpack, which, once she got back to solid ground, turned out to contain 5 bottles and some long-rotten food. Zephyra identified 4 cloudy white ones as just acid flasks, but the last one (thick black with a suspended white skull-like pattern) was a mystery.
Zephyra tried to Summon Spirit on the skeletons to ask them some questions, but failed, so the group got to climbing. Puddin' took some rope (Mahk brought tons) and climbed back up, but lost her footing just as she crested the hill with a crit fail and tumbled down for 16 damage. Vaelcor cast Major Healing and did some First Aid to get her back up to full HP, and she climbed again, this time not falling. Jahn scrambled up the hillside to the top without issue as Puddin' tied the rope in place.
Puddin' tied a harness before throwing the rope down, and Masha and Argua climbed up and then lifted the others without issue. The party rested for a minute, but were abruptly interrupted when the 15' long wyvern that Puddin' had seen off in the distance earlier dive-bombed out of the sky and grabbed Jahn with its talons and stung with its tail, pumping him full of venom. Zephyra tried casting Spasm on a wing but lost the contest due to range penalties.
Elana activated Holy Might while everybody drew weapons and waited for the wyvern to come back into range, but it decided to drop Jahn over the side of the cliff first before turning around. Vaelcor cast Beast-Soother to get it to leave them alone, but with a 6 on the Reaction Roll, the wyvern was too hungry to care. Mahk hid behind a tree, and Puddin' Disappeared just before the wyvern swooped in to grab at Zephyra, triggering everybody's Wait actions.
Masha made an Acrobatics roll to do a 26-damage bicycle kick and crippled a wing, Argua swung wide on the tail, and Elana landed a Holy Might-boosted, Mighty Blows stab to the eye for 48 injury, stunning it. Stunned and down a wing, the wyvern just plowed forwards towards the party; everybody but Zephyra managed to dodge under it (Vaelcor had to use Luck). Zephyra was crushed for 26 damage, failed a death check by 4, and died. (Vaelcor: "Hey, I guess that means only one person owns the manor now." Argua: "Oh, yeah! There can only be one!").
Puddin' reappeared directly in front of the wyvern's face and stabbed it in the face (though she meant to hit the eye) with her katar, but barely managed to pierce its thick scales. Masha and Argua did some more damage while everybody else regained their feet, and Puddin' stabbed it in the other eye, blinding it completely. Elana speared the wyvern in its vitals through gaps in its scales for a solid wound, then Masha jumped up onto its back, ran along its neck, and landed an axe kick to the skull, which finished it off.
After "an appropriate amount of grieving", Puddin' went over to Zephyra's corpse and started looting. As the rightful heir to Shadowmantle Manor, Argua got the signet ring, Puddin' took the Wand of Black Fireball, as Zephyra owed her money, and everything else went to Mahk's mighty backpack. Jahn actually managed to climb back up the cliff without passing out, and Vaelcor cast Major Healing with the last of his FP.
After some discussion of what to do with Zephyra (Puddin' advocated cremation, while Mahk suggested she be left with the other skeletons), Elana buried her in an unmarked grave, according to the rites of Melora. Vaelcor kept healing Jahn, and Puddin' looked around and saw a cave opening on the mountainside. She went over and climbed in to find what must have been the wyvern's nest.
There were several rotting corpses in a corner, mostly mountain goats, but Puddin' looked through the pile and found a dwarf. Off his body, she grabbed a mace, some coins, a large silver button, and a tapestry that depicted a dwarf holding up a tapestry to a wall and looking through. There was also a scroll case with a circle and lightning bolt inlay, as well as some engraved dwarven runes that nobody could read.
Notes:
Argua picked up the Lantern of Continual Light in between sessions using the time they'd had in Isserno. The price given in Magic ($12k) seems high, but then again, "Frustratingly Arbitrary!" may as well be Magic's tagline. As a houserule, I let things that are "more suitable" (aka entirely up to my discretion, making for arbitrary stacked on arbitrary, but whatever) get a discount. Lantern getting Continual Light? Makes sense, price reduced by 1/3.
I was kind of surprised that the party didn't just use the Phial of the Mad Alchemist to make a Potion of Flight or something to get up to the top of the hill.
I really love how Animal Empathy lets Druids use Influence Skills against animals, but Druids don't have any on their template. DFRPG at least fixes that by letting them take it as a background skill, but still. I'm now ruling that any animals will give the Druid a chance to "talk" (whether that means casting Beast Speech or Beast-Soother or whatever) before making Reaction Rolls that determine if they'll attack, even if they would normally ambush.
More terrible Druid design: Animal Control is split up into 5 different spells, and then Hybrid Control requires an extra spell on top. Meanwhile, Mind Control, which affects everything else, is just one roll. Somehow, the Animal Handling specialities are even worse. Animal Control is now one spell with different cost depending on the type, and Animal Handling has no specialization.
Zephyra's player realized just a bit too late that she would have lived if she had spent the FP for Feverish Defense. Everybody also forgot about the Tactics reroll that Elana had gotten them. Oh well.
XP was 5, MVP was Masha
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