Friday, February 17, 2017

West Marches sessions 7, 8, & 9

Having fallen behind on session posts this will be a quick look at the activities of 3 sessions.

Two new players joined, adding their characters to the party. Rolfe (fighter), Lilura (wizard).

Rolfe and Lilura had arrived in town seeking to join an adventuring company and were accepted by the group. Safety in numbers.

The group decided that they would return to the scorpion cave and continue to explore. The cave no longer housed scorpions, though the other inhabitants were present proving to be a serious challenge. Blending into the surrounding stone and striking from above, the chokers grabbed at the explorers inflicting wounds on most of the party. After slaying two of the creatures and aware of at least one other still skulking nearby, the group retreated to seek the safety of the town.

The party agreed to venture to the surroundings of the Thistleblack Ruins to collect the unopened buds from the thistle plant that gave the ruined city its name, on behalf of Santhosh the local chirrurgeon and apothecary. The trip proved quite dangerous yet successful.

They encountered a large spitting cobra which temporarily blinded Mira. On their way back they discovered a small spring guarded by some large centipedes. They retrieved a black sapphire from the bottom of the spring, and two members of the party contracted an itchy rash which eventually went away. The spring is now called Blackstone Spring.

Their second trip to the ruins was prompted by their curiosity and at the request of Hart, high priestess of the goddess Vesta, to seek a rumored library which may contain knowledge of a divine nature that could greatly help the temple and community.

Reaching city center they began exploring the surface ruins, eventually coming under repeated attacks by ravenous beetles and lizards. Discovering a stairway leading below a partially standing building the party went below to investigate. A poison dart trap later and three members of the party were experiencing various stages of paralysis. This prompted a retreat back to their previous encampment outside the region of thistles.

While camped and with Rae paralyzed, a very young yellowish dragon attempted to extort treasure from the party. While some were willing to comply, Dorrak decided to insult the beast. One catastrophic reaction roll later left two party members dead, one dying, and another blinded from the scorching salt breath from the dragon. Dorrak decided to charge their attacker, against party wishes and paid for it with his life. The party surrendered 400 silver and begged for their lives. Mollified, the dragon departed.

Up till the dragon encounter that brought session 9 to a close there had been many close calls, but luck had prevented any casualties. This encounter resulted in 3 of the 7 party members dead and the others badly wounded.

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