WB2, Session 14: Fist on Furies!

Session 14: "Fists on Furies!"
Tuesday 13th, April 1001 AC
(destiny token: 1)

Companions

• Urist, dwarven cleric of Kagyar (level 3)
• Rurik, dwarven fighter (level 3)
• Zao-rin, human monk (level 3)
• Danik, human scholar mage (level 3), still recuperating in the village
• Serrin, human bounty hunter (level 3), still recuperating in the village

Lost companions

• Grom, half-orc druid, went missing during dragon attack.
• Adran, gnome bard, fell to his death after being dropped by a Drahie.

And so days passed...
After weeks being cut off from civilization, the peace and quiet monotony of the village allowed the companions time to rest and train, their bodies and mind finally feeling fully reinvigorated.

The young woman who offered you shelter is preparing crabs nearby. In the corner, Danik is sleeping, his body not fully healed yet. Yesterday morning, Serrin also got sick while tasting some local herbs and he's also sleeping on his bedroll.
Time in a place with no sun is not a simple thing to keep track of, but the party found itself in Manelesi hut at the end of their day, sitting on the floor around a small fire while having dinner, pondering what to do next.
Most of the evening was spent discussing the bizarre customs of the villagers and commenting on what they had noticed the week past. Their basic knowledge of the local language helped somewhat communicating with Manelesi and they learned that:

• Themba, the young man the companions had freed from the Drahies, is Manelesi's partner but seems now to be an outcast, living alone outside the village. He does seem to come here and there, discreetly, to see Manelesi.
• Zao-rin learned that the Simphiwe consider the Drahies as somewhat sacred, as belonging to to something or someone they call "He, We are of". When pushed on the matter, Manelesi simply pointed at the sky north-east, then whispered a name: Ziphozonke, the Black Shadow. This might be the master of the Drahies somehow.

By the end of the evening, Urist suggested going back to the Drahie lair they had assaulted previously and check on the buried passage Rurik and himself had noticed behind the statue of a winged reptilian humanoid. All agreed, and went to bed.

Most of the following day was spent travelling with Rurik taking on to himself to try and map the area, while Zao-Rin kept an eye around for danger and Urist, as usual, foraged whatever he could. After a couple hours going through the now familiar tall grassland, Zao-Rin spotted something to the north-east. A flying creature, massive and dark as night, circling below the cave ceiling some miles north-east of them.
Immediately, Rurik recognized the creature to be a black dragon, a good 100-130' long. Urist yelled "Get Down!" as he dove to the ground, trying to hide between the tall blades of grass. Perplexed, the monk lowered himself slowly into the grass.

...hidden in the tall grass, time passed...

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the massive cave, followed by a pandemonium of sounds. Looking up, the companions witnessed a scene of pure chaos, miles to the north-east:

• The black dragon was launching waves of acid onto the ceiling rocks, then circled around before ramming it full speed.
• Tons and tons of rock exploded with every go at the ceiling that the dragon did. As they fell hundreds of feet below, a massive cloud of debris began to form, making things hard to see.
• After about half a dozen attempts, the black dragon suddenly seemed to go limp after hitting the ceiling and fell straight down, disappearing into the dust cloud below as more rocks collapsed from the cave ceiling.

Once the calm and quiet came back, the companions discussed the recent events before resuming their march north-east, after agreeing that while it would be out of the question to face such a beast, they might have to pass it somehow if they were to find a way out of the cave and back to the world above.

About 6 hours later, they finally reached the cave thanks to the map Rurik had make on their previous trip. Everything was completely quiet and a quick investigation revealed that the bodies had been cleaned up and the weapons collected. The only thing left were the tents, abandoned apparently, despite Rurik finding many very recent tracks.

Not wasting any time, the party then set up to remove the debris blocking the passage into the buried structure behind the cave and an hour later, finally took a step inside. Sadly, the area was old, and completely abandoned for centuries. Amidst more debris and very meticulous investigation by Urist, only Rurik managed to find anything, an old map, somewhat protected from the damage of time in a stone chest:

• The map is made of leather and is painted over. Most of the coat is gone but what's left still has some mapping symbols.
• The area from the map seems to be a swamp, hundreds miles wide and with clear borders on all side which could indicate that it was a domain or realm of some kind. Not a place that any of the three companions present knew however.
• There are various symbols, easily identified as Mines (One to the north, one to the south), Houses and Villages (most around the middle of the map) and even a Pyramid and what seems to be a Palace (around the south of the map).
• Many of the houses and villages symbols have symbols of Reptilian Jaws around a Blackened Sun, like Urist's pendant. Others have the symbol of Claws around what seems to be a Rock or a Stone. The first symbol can also be seen above the Pyramid and the Palace icons.

While Urist was checking another area, Zao-Rin heard something outside and as he came close to the exit, a Drahie appeared! Soon battle erupted outside the cave between the party and a flock of Drahies. Feeling rested, the monk struck many with deadly precision while Rurik cleaved left and right. Urist, faithful to his Radiant Flames, also engaged combat. The Drahies kept charging with their barbed spear, before disengaging and flying a bit away, before spitting their nasty acid onto them. Finally, Zao-rin prowess as he instantly killed on the Drahies, sent the creatures into retreat.

Not wanting to waste any more time here and risk being once again attacked by the flying distorted harpies, the party immediately began their march back to the village. The journey was uneventful overall, though they did once again here the damned shrills while they were travelling in the grassland.

The next afternoon, they finally arrived. Serrin was still severely sick, something even Urist's divine magic did not seem to be able to cure, but Danik was up and apparently in much better shape than before.

Post Session Notes:

• Couple missing players and short session, mired with small problems. Still good fun but can't wait for the whole group to be there once again.
• The interactions with Manelesi at the beginning of the session was quite interesting. Really like mixing meaningful and mundane NPC/PC interactions, especially when everyone stays 100% in character as everyone does. Add onto that the fact that we play 100% text based sessions via roll20 chat interface, it creates really nice scenes and discussions.
• The party had finally found a place to rest last session, so we agreed that they'd spend a week there and gain their level 3 finally. I have a house-rule that makes leveling more important overall in the PC's lives. I don't really track down the XP per session (still keep somewhat of a count) and instead go for the "feel" of it. If the PCs accomplished something after some sessions, they'll be ready to level. Once there, they'll need to find (or establish) a place for them to rest for at least a week or two. Basically, no "ding" in the middle of the dungeon and whatnot.
• Monks hurt...a lot. I knew they had high DPR potential but man, Zao-Rin kept critting and at one point he did 38 damage to a Drahie in a single Attack Action (ki strikes, 3 attacks, 2 crit hit). I'll see how it goes for the coming sessions.