Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (303 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (294 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (298 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (299 points)
Day 24 (Cont.)
Weather: Good
Throughout the day, the weather improved, but due to Arc's poor Tracking (defaulting from Naturalist), the group lost the hobgoblin's trail. Partway through the day, three six-legged lizards stumbled across their paths. Arc correctly identified them as basilisks, warned the party that they could turn you to stone if you met their gaze, and the party tried to hide in nearby bushes but failed.
The basilisks turned and charged, ignoring Mor'ath, and gazed at Zaxod and Arc. Aurum started casting Explosive Fireball and Zaxod cut one down, while Mor'ath threw a flash nageteppo to no effect. The basilisks charged ineffectually at Zaxod, who killed another, while Mor'ath approached and attacked from behind. Aurum loosed his spell on the last remaining basilisk, which Zaxod then decapitated.
After healing up and resting for a bit, they put the severed basilisk head on the levitating disc so they could extract some alchemy bits later. The party made good time and arrived at the lake the hunters had told them about that afternoon.
Day 25
Weather: Good
The party followed the third river from the east as per the hunters' instructions, but made poor time due to the thicker forest and failed Hiking and Navigation rolls, despite the slowest person, Aurum, staying on the levitating disc.
Day 26
Weather: Good
Halfway through the day, Arc noticed that two trees in the forest were rigged to fall and warned the party quickly enough to allow them to dodge out of the way. This was fortunate, as they were then charged by a group of dire beavers on both sides. Zaxod and Mor'ath split to the left and right while Aurum cast Shield and then hacked some up with his urgrosh, and Arc prepped a Fireball from the safety of the disc.
The dire beavers proved resilient, their blubbery hide deflecting many weaker blows, but they were quickly killed by Mor'ath and Zaxod. One managed to take a big chunk out of Arc's groin, and another jumped onto the disc with Aurum, but after some magical healing, everyone was fine.
Just before sunset they arrived at the hunters' camp and found that everything of value had been taken, leaving only a firepit behind. They also noticed a large group of humanoid tracks, which they would follow the next day.
During his watch, Arc heard some loud, vulture-like noises from somewhere above but never saw what it was through the darkness. Whatever it was, apparently it didn't see them either.
Day 27
Weather: Perfect
The weather took a turn for the better, and with the wind at their back, the party followed the tracks. After several hours, they heard music (which Mor'ath identified as Elven) from somewhere off in the forest, so they decided to investigate, with Mor'ath and Aurum proceeding in Stealth mode.
Several minutes away, they found a small clearing with the elven troubadour they had seen playing in Kral Narthis apparently entertaining a group of 8 hobgoblins. The elf saw some of the party but waved them off, and Aurum noticed that the hobgoblins were arranged in a formation such that they would all be affected by a 2m area spell.
After about 10 seconds, the music changed from soothing elven tones to dissonant, violent noise, and 7 of the hobgoblins ran screaming to the west in terror, leaving one very confused and looking around for threats. Zaxod took this as the "go" signal and Slam'd the hobgoblin twice to knock him prone, and then Mor'ath grappled it with his cloak and choked it out.
The bard thanked the party for their timely appearance, and told them that he was out here trying to rescue the brother of his beloved, who had been kidnapped by the hobgoblins. He admitted that he had gotten in over his head, and was glad to see someone more experienced was around. The bard mentioned that he could show them where the hobgoblin camp was, which they agreed to.
The party then decided to see about interrogating the hobgoblin, and the bard mentioned that he might be able to coerce it through magic after some rest. An hour later, the hobgoblin was woken up and its eyes glazed over as the bard played a hypnotic tune. The party asked various questions (where is the camp, how is it defended, where are the entrances), but after a minute the bard lost control and the hobgoblin regained clarity and shut up.
Notes:
Lack of tools to means they're always at -5 to Navigation, which Aurum is already defaulting to from Cartography at -4, for a total of -9.
During the basilisk fight, Zaxod noted that he shouldn't even bother rolling weapon skill after a successful parry against unarmed skill because he will almost always hit, and then immediately rolled an 18. Highlight of the session for me.
Aurum's Explosive Fireball hit a grand total of one basilisk, even though all three had been alive when he started casting, because Zaxod is just insanely strong in melee.
The dire beavers got the desired response of "are you shitting me?".
They didn't get attacked during Arc's watch was because the hunters' camp was well-positioned, which resulted in Mor'ath winning the Quick Contest by 1.
Nobody even asked the bard's name, which is why he's referred to as "the bard".
They got the following details about the hobgoblin camp:
-The camp is inside a cave in the side of a hill
-There are groups of hobgoblins watching outside on an elevated platform above the cave mouth as well as off to either side
-The hobgoblins have cleared 20m of treeline
-The hobgoblins have placed wooden stakes all along the perimeter, making charging difficult
-The hobgoblins have deliberately collapsed rock on the sides of the hill to make attacking from behind more difficult
The party's current plan for assaulting is called "Operation Sanic" and involves Aurum casting Great Haste on Zaxod and Mor'ath, who then sprint across the open terrain directly at the hobgoblins.
Nobody's sure if hobgoblins have Dark Vision or just good Night Vision.
XP:
2 for general success
1 for roleplaying
1 for the hardest fight
0 for loot
0 for quests
MVP went to Mor'ath because he racked up the most kills.
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