Format: Sandbox
Theme: Rumours and gossip
Author: Player 2
Adventure Master: Player 2 (“Edward”), leading his 9th mission.
Player Characters:
Starflower the Lion Warrior with Regulus the Lion, on her 31st mission.
William the Bear Knight with Bill the Bear, on his 34th mission.
Philip the Overlord’s Guard, on his 32nd mission.
Hector the Renewer, on his 20th mission.
Session 1
Date in Real Life: Friday August 18th, 2023
In Game Day: Arba, the 23rd of Owol (early summer, four days after Bahanen Islands 8, and the morning after the Rescue of the Elves)
The team was authorized to return to Bahanen Islands, along with NPC Salvatore from the Reconnaissance team. Their mission: find the other missing members of the Reconnaissance team.
Upon arrival through the Hollow Tree, some Aladoth were guarding the area. The Lightraiders attempted to talk to them. One was listening and open to the Great Rescue. Hector shared the Great Rescue with him while the others fought. The Aladoth were overpowered and tied up. Bill the Bear accidentally killed one of them. They left them tied up with their weapons near by so they could free themselves and set sail with their boat.
They paddled up to the main island they had so far avoided. Salvatore told them that it was the site of where the team had been captured. Ethan had wandered off during the battle, perhaps under dragon enchantment. The team was hopeful they might find Ethan on the island.
They wandered corn fields and found a barn. The farmers hid from them. Suddenly most of them fell under a rumour enchantment. Philip counselled them out of it and they sensed evil from the barn. They entered the barn and found nothing but rocks. The rocks rose up and attacked! They then understood that the “Rocky-Talkies” had been dark creatures: Rumour Rocks. Hector used his hammer of crushing and destroyed the largest rock monster in the room. Other Lightraiders found their weapons were not effective. They prayed and the Overlord provided war hammers for everyone. The rocks were all smashed to bits.
Session 2
Date in Real Life: Monday August 28th, 2023
In Game Day: Arba, the 23rd of Owol
The team headed north. They met an ogre at an intersection. Some fell under enchantment. They used their Persuade Foe ability to get him to move aside so they could pass. Whenever the team saw farmers, the farmers ran away, scared.
They headed to a mountain and climbed up to get a better view. They spotted Ethan. They hurried to catch up to him. They gave him Biblical counsel and broke the sin enchantment he was under. They decided to head to the northern island to find Maria. Ethan is a Psalmist, and sang songs for the group during the rest of the adventure.
The team spotted a Nazgul on the road. Philip challenged it. The team slew the horse, then banished the evil spirit. Philip removed the horse shoes from the horse.
The team was ambushed by Cheetaurs. They tried to spread the Scaredy-Cat sin enchantment. After striking them once, they took off running.
The team made it to their boats. They paddled up the west coast of the island, eventually landing on the next island, the isle of swamps and the Castle of Lord Bahanen. Since it was late, they decided they would make camp on the south end of the island, then continue north to the castle in the morning.
During the night watch, they were attacked by a young firedrake. At one point, Philip threw a horseshoe at the dragon. It missed, and hit Starflower in the head when it came back down. After a few rounds of powerful Mind Speech refutation, the firedrake flew away. The team passed the rest of the night without incident.
Session 3
Date in Real Life: Tuesday August 29th, 2023
In Game Day: Khamesh, the 24th of Owol (morning)
In the morning, the Raid Team got into their boat and began paddling north, along the West coast of the island. After a couple hours of paddling, they sensed evil, and felt a strong urging from the OverLord to get to shore as quickly as possible. They immediately changed course, made landfall and dragged their boat inland.
Lord Bahanen the Sea Serpent reared his head from the sea and began attacking them with Mind Speech. The team refuted many false thoughts, recited WordRunes after resisting Dragon breath, withstood fire attacks. They fought long and hard. Hector succumbed to a breath attack, and in confusion thought things were falling from the sky. He attempted to dodge the illusion, but separated himself from the group. The dragon gave him a powerful fire attack, almost killing him. Salvatore dragged him back to the group and the protection of the team’s shield of faith. The Team valiantly fought on and hit the dragon hard again and again. Eventually they realized that their efforts were not good enough. The dragon appeared to be regenerating faster than they could injure it. They decided to retreat into the swamps. The dragon tried to chase them along the waterways, but they managed to evade this enemy.
At last they stopped and caught their breath. They ate a bit of lunch, applied first aid and discussed the matter. Suddenly the OverLord appeared among them. The OverLord informed them that Lord Bahanen was regaining its pride from Aladoth worshipping his dragon statuettes around the islands and in the towns. The team theorized that if they ever wanted to succeed against Lord Bahanen, they needed to either attack it when only a few people, if any, were worshipping (perhaps the middle of the night), or else go from town to town and destroy as many dragon statuettes as possible. Hector reminded the group that their mission was to free the missing members of the Reconnaissance Team, not to take on the dragon. Starflower pointed out that if they hoped to rescue the colony of Hobbits, it would certainly be easier without that Sea Serpent in the water!
Session 4
Date in Real Life: Thursday August 31st, 2023
In Game Day: Khamesh, the 24th of Owol (afternoon and through the night)
The team discussed the battle with Lord Bahanen. They wondered how Lord Bahanen realized he was being worshipped. They theorized that the dragon statuettes might be made from rumour rocks.
The team made their way north to Lord Bahanen’s castle. They arrived without incident, relying on Salvatore’s memory of when the reconnaissance team had mapped the area.
They sneaked into the castle and made their way to the dungeon. On the way, they found the kitchen, and Philip grabbed some orc cookies, in case they might prove useful. They also found a vampire cloak in the foyer, which Philip grabbed.
They sensed evil and realized some of the stones in the walls were rumour rocks. They smashed holes in the wall to destroy these rocks.
They found Maria in a cell. There was a pitfall trap in front of the cell. They tied rope around William and Starflower and sent them across. William picked the lock, and they helped Maria back across the trap doors. Starflower fell in, and landed in water. They pulled her back up. The team quietly made their way out of the castle.
Since Lord Bahanen was last seen on the west coast, the team headed south, following the eastern shoreline. They prayed for the Overlord to provide a means of escape from the island. Salvatore shared that there were no moon bridges to this island.
They made it to the southern tip of the island, but still no sign of any boats, or the orc navy.
“There is another option,” Salvatore said. “I was hoping the Overlord would provide a boat, so I didn’t mention it earlier,” he added quickly.
“What?” Starflower asked.
“The orc caverns. They tunnel under the water between the islands.”
“Is there an entrance to the caverns nearby?” Hector asked hesitantly.
“Just north of here.” Salvatore led the way to the orc cavern entrance.
The team debated how to handle the situation. Philip donned the vampire cloak and pulled out the vampire teeth he had. He used his Overlord’s Guard ability to change the appearance of his face and hair to resemble a vampire. The team agreed that if no one looked at him too closely, he might pass as a vampire.
They entered the caverns, Philip leading the way. They met a few orcs here and there. Philip bluffed his way past them, explaining the others as his snack. He introduced himself as the new vampire. The team walked for hours, even saying a WordRune to stay up all night without an endurance check.
Some orcs were starting to get suspicious. They gave bad directions, and the team decided it would be better to get out of the caverns while they could.
They exited out onto the island that happened to have the hollow tree. The tree was surrounded by a brick wall. Hector used his Hammer of Crushing to break a hole in the wall. They debated what to do next. They decided to go home to Ras Telesar to rest up before continuing the mission.