Session 3 - "Thank you, but our princess is in another castle!"

Session 3:

Your party met Abraxus, a dragonborn Warlord (Marshal) in the great hall.  She looked “fighty” and speaks Draconic which was your justification to your party members and the king for allowing him to join the party.

King Hrothgar finally sent his page for you and you appeared before the King in his war room just off the great hall.  He first apologized for summoning you to the arena and then explained why he has done so and what is afoot.  In summary, he was looking for a brave group of heroes who could not only stand toe to toe with beast and foe, but a group that could think on their feet to solve any issue laid before them.  You see, an encampment has been setup NW of town, and they had raided the castle (quite stealthily I might add).  The spoils of that raid were the king’s eldest daughter, Lorgar.  The King has asked that you return her safely for a reward of 5000gp, but there is a catch.  That encampment in the NW bares the coat of arms of Hilliana, ruled by King Helgon, a longtime friend of King Hrothgar.  Hrothgar knows something is wrong in Hilliana and is trying to prevent war.  He is even willing to sacrifice his daughter if it means preventing a war that will kill thousands (though he will do just about anything else for her).  Therefor he also offers you a 2000gp reward for returning Lorgar’s body, if you can get revenge and not implicate Palancia in any way.  While you are up north in Hilliana, he will also offer an additional 1000gp reward for information on what the heck is going on in Hilliana.  Your party was respectful to the king and accepted his quests.

The King then pulled from the chest in his war room some rewards for your fight in the Arena of Trials that he said you could use in any way to aid you in your quest.  You received:

·         an Amulet of Protection (+1 Fortitude, Reflex, Will and resist 5 poison)

·         a Magic Staff (+1 attack and damage as implement, critical hits do 1d6 extra damage)

·         a Darkleaf Leather Armor (+1 Armor Class, +2 Armor Class against first attack each encounter)

·         500 gp

·         6 horses (including 1 war horse)

·         The services of the King’s mage who can enchant Shields with a 50% success rate (failure destroys the object).

·         Lodging in the palace for the night.

You accept his gifts, distribute them as appropriate to your party, and request a large and small shield be enchanted.  Both attempts fail, destroying the shields.

Late in Day 2: Your party decides to head into town to find Keira and spend some hard earned gold.  At the town crossroads, a group of 12 kids surrounds with sticks and starts to fight you.  They are playful but probably a little over stimulated from the recent Arena battle they witnessed.  During your encounter with them they shouted things they heard in the arena.  Fortunately, using spells such as sleep, and several Intimidating yells and growls, you are able to scare them all off without having to hurt any of them.

Jadis, Varis, and Glyth suddenly feel stronger and stand outside the tavern to discuss how to utilize their new found strength.  Abraxus, Shava, and Yelsha visit the armorer and buy him out of scale armor, large shields, and small shields.  The party regroups and enters the Tavern to retrieve Keira.  Upon entering the tavern, you find Keira drinking ale with a body bleeding out at her feet.  She is surrounded by four other bandits and a berserker.  The confines of the tavern are limiting, but your party, with the aid of Keira, manages to dispatch the foes.  “This town is falling apart by the minute.  Let’s get out of here,” says Keira.

You head back to the palace for a good night’s rest before setting off. 

Early in Day 3: After about 6 hours of sleeping, the elves in your party are awakened by noises down the hall.   The party is woken and you creep down the hall, in the pitch black, all the way back to the great hall.  There are 4 guards fighting 2 other guards into the corner.  Once spotted, each group of guards pleads for your help claiming the other group is spies.  Jadis casts sleep on most of the group and finds success in only the group of two, but the four others continue to attack the sleeping guards.  Your party uses that clue to begin attacking the group of four.  Once attacked, each guard in that group of four reveals their true identities as doppleganger sneaks.  Your party kills the four spies, and helps the guards up.  They run off to report the incident and tell King Hrothgar of your cunning and bravery.

Your party then heads to the stable to secure your promised horses and you find your latest challenge in getting the heck out of town…   Abraxus weighs too much to ride on a horse without slowing down the party.  You overcome the challenge by spending your hard earned gold on an additional horse and a wagon.  You then send a page to request the court mage to try enchanting your new shields.  He succeeds on a small shield, destroying a small and a large shield in the process.  Fortunately, the enchantment on the small shield negates the loss of the large shield to its wielder, Shava.

At last, your party takes the road between the stables and the castle to the road North.  Once behind the castle you ride NW toward the reported camp.  After a several hours ride, you spot smoke which leads you to the campfire of the camp. 

Midday Day 3: Approaching the camp, you encounter a group of 2 guards, 3 lackeys (who seemed to never miss), and a pseudodragon.  During the encounter, which you quickly handled, a guard managed to throw some sort of capsule into the fire that caused an explosion that did damage to one of your party and themselves.  More importantly, it alerted a nearby party with high red smoke, who now has you surrounded.

You’ll have to come back December 3^rd to find out what happens next.  Will you find any clues as to what is happening in Hilliana?  Will you find the princess and is she still alive?  How will you handle the quest for the old man?  Is Keira really worthy of your trust?

                Experience Points:

                                Encounter 4 (Kids) – 372 XP
                                Encounter 5 (Tavern) – 550 XP
                                Encounter 3 (Spies) – 600 XP
                                Encounter 6.1 (Camp – 1^st wave) – 725 XP

                                Total XP: 2247 XP divided among 7 (6 PC and 1 NPC) for 321 XP each.

DM Ruling on the NPC, Keira’s, effect on XP.  Keira is quite a powerful striker and as such your party is stronger.  Therefor your XP will be divided to include her in the division.  You can gain more XP per encounter by asking her to leave.