Way of the Wicked 9

This was a very productive evening where  we got through many more encounters than I expected. After the frustration expressed by some about the last session I left most of this sessions encounters as written, although ironically the one I modified turned out to be probably the easiest.

The former contributor to this blog Derrobane brought his new PC all done up beautifully on a fancy character sheet. It was thick paper, with pictures and it was all laminated. The other guys teased him and said he jinxed himself which turned out to be true.

A few days passed this the last adventuring party hit but no messages were arriving from Farholde. Leaving the necromancer cleric in charge of the ritual, the party set out to see what was going on. Farholde seemed quite and both the Antipaladin's minions and the White Raven's claimed to have sent messages. On the way back the party disguised themselves as messengers. The last in the line was Derrobane's new cleric.

Charging out of the bushes came a massive tiger which then pounced on the guy in the back. The horse went down, Derrobane's PC went down and the dire tiger ripped into her (female PC). She was severely injured but still alive when someone at the table pointed out I'd forgotten to roll the rake attacks.

Yes, I had "forgotten" to roll the rake attacks but since you've reminded me...

And that was the end of Derrobane's brand new Cleric on the fancy character sheet. Killed on the surprise round of the first combat encounter. The tiger tried to haul his new kill away from the rest of the party but they were having none of it and attacked the beast. The beast went down in a snarl or bloody and charred fur. The brand new warrior who had just shown up (replacement PC) tracked the tiger back to its lair and found what little remained of the tigers previous meals including a number of messengers and Boggards.

Messages began flowing from town again including word that a silver dragon had been spotted flying over the town. Defenses were prepared but the dragon was a no show. Word did come back about an Inquisitor being in town. Defenses were hastily prepared at the Horn and the Inquisitors party was spotted approaching. They vanished and were found the next deep in Level 3. A surprise assault was readied and the villains caught the Inquisitor's party unawares and took them down quickly. The cleric with the Inquisitor's party was knocked unconscious since a follower of Mitra was required for the sacrifice at the midway point of the ritual.

The next week after the sacrifice a boggard with limited knowledge of the common tongue came and asked for assistance against something that was eating the tribe. It turned out to be another plant monster which was killed with minimal trouble although much hatred of plant monsters was expressed (at least it wasn't a swarm).

The final challenge of the evening came in the form of yet another adventuring party. This one was somewhat woodsy and did their best to get the villains to come outside. The battle began and the villainous Bloodrager traded blows with the dwarven barbarian, an archer fight occurred between the evil cleric and the goody ranger. The sorcerer charmed the halfling fighter and asked him to go pick some flowers and then Held the  evil wizard. A bird landed in the middle of the battle and shape changed into an Allosaurus (druid). It moved over to finish off the wizard.

Things did turn in the villain's favor. The Bloodrager disengaged from the barbarian and murdered the gnomish sorcerer. The wizard broke free from the Hold Person spell but still had an Allosaurus towering over him. The evil elven cleric tried to rescue the wizard but the wizard was trapped over by the cave mouth away from his companions. The druid ate the wizard but elsewhere things were not going well for the good guys. The barbarian was finished off by the Bloodrager, the cleric shot down the ranger as she tried to flee and then the druid was killed. The villains stood victorious but for the loss of their wizard companion.

Going through the loot they found a journal written by the gnome. It seems that the White Ravens gave this adventuring party as much recon as they could in the hope of them defeating the 9th Knot.  Now, the villains are pretty pissed about this betrayal and are planning vengeance on the White Ravens. What will they do? Come back next time to find out.