Mefighter beta team eighth session notes

Looting the Toll Booth

• While all the stuff is sorted out, Byll goes off and scouts around
  • Almost all the stuff is ID'ed and distributed. Coins are from all over, but an unusually high amount of Platinum. All platinum coins are stamped from the Draglet Mint.
  • Random Lore for the numismatist: Platinum, Gold & Silver Mints are all operated by Church. Copper Mints are operated by crown entities and the free city of Wydmoor has a monopoly on the minting of Electrum.
• He comes back with a hobgoblin at crossbow-point
• Much wondering and confusion happens!
  • It comes out that her name is Gub, she speaks Ubrekti and Goblin (
    • Byll also speaks Goblin, which is how he has spoken to her before now. He is shocked that she speaks Ubrekti.
    • Byll never accords the "hobby" or "hobber" much respect. He ridicules her combat abilities (after the Ogre encounter below) and refers to her as "creature" or "monster".
    • Uhanimara takes issue with this treatment - "SHE has a NAME and it is GUB!" - and the rest of the party finds itself in an awkward position.
  • She says she is on a quest to find a red door. Well, kind of. Something about a teakettle and cones. It is very esoteric and complicated.
  • Byll is carrying her bow and arrows. Thurmin admires the craftsmanship (certainly not Hobgoblin make!), so Byll gives Thurmin the gear.
    • Other than the bow, the hobgoblin's only possessions were ratty old robes and underclothes (although nobody wants to be sure about the latter).
  • She likes blood. Yum.

The Roadhouse

• They continue on the path and find a small guardhouse at the turn of the road, collapsed from time and calamity. A fire burns within.
• It is occupied! Thurmin hands Gub her bow and tells Byll he can "take care" of her if she turns out to be dangerous
• Thurmin and Uhanimara "sneak" up to the roadhouse. They are crappy at it, and stuff starts happening after a good enough check from the roadhouse residents.
• Very large, one-eyed ogre with a beard pops out ("Gramps"). Two juveniles pop out just after ("Thelma" and "Henderson")
  • One unusually high HP ogre and two slightly gimped HP ogres.
• Uhanimara webs the entrance, keeps Thelma and Henderson from being too active and delays Gramps's charge just long enough for the Dwarves to hustle their asses on the front line.
  • The Dwarves thought this "sneaking up" was a bad idea all along, for the record.
• Slugging and shooting happens. Gub gets crap for rolls and misses a bunch, but at least demonstrates the ability to lay down a *lot* of arrows. Brunnar dodges swing after swing with the grace of a gazelle, at one point being flanked while suffering the attacks of *all three* ogres. Drem gets swatted on the first hit (Thelma hits hard!) and has to step back for several rounds of recovery
• Byll is as deadly as usual, and provides some helpful sneak attack damage when he finally gets in range, and Brunnar lands solid hits.
• Brunnar gets a clutch stop with his new feat, stymieing Gramps and Henderson for a round and saving Uhanimara a week-ruining amount of damage.
• Uhanimara vomits up spiders. Groooooooss. But it keeps Henderson out of the fight entirely for one turn, and applies damage for several.
  • Thurmin never gets a chance to follow up on the Spider Vomit Incident, on account of what happens next...
• Gramps goes down to a Byll bluff/Sneak Attack combo, then Thelma to some stacked damage the next round, and finally Henderson. He is able to land one more solid blow before it happens, and Uhanimara goes from perfectly healty to almost dead (-8 of -10) in one shot. (Which Thurmin quickly stabilizes, since Feantari already has the -9 Achievement!)
• Post-Murder looting commences.
  • Cash, a silver holy symbol, a silver whistle, and a masterwork Gnomish hook-hammer. The cash again has an unusually high amount of Platinum, also stamped at the Draglet Mint. None of it is magical.
• There is a stew in the pot, made of an obvious humanoid. Nobody but Gub is interested. The party dumps the cannibal cauldron and Uhanimara cooks some wheaty goulash from the Ogre Toll Booth supplies.
  • Gub probably eats some of the cannibal stew on the side, though
• Party sleeps (Byll goes off by his lonesome like usual, this time climbing the stairs of the ruined tower and sleeping/watching from above)
  • Post-Frimble watch order is maintained. Nub is not included. The night passes without incident.

"Black Dotistan"

• They continue. Uhanimara uses her Geography knowledge to point out that an approach via the hill to the West might be prudent, where the hills might allow a view inside of the city.
  • It is a walled city, and the Dwarven Longbridge is inside of the walls. Byll's preliminary scouting was unable to determine who was behind the city walls, but the roads were totally cleared by something and some campfire smoke was visible from within the city.
• They find a burned-out manor with a great view. Unfortunately, there is heavy fog of the river and moats and the party can not see inside. (Bad rolls!)
  • The good news: A fully populated city would be loud!
  • The party decides some prudence is in order at this point.
  • They set up an observation post near a burnt out manor house high on a hill while Byll does some preliminary scouting. He can't see much, but does see a half-assed sentry.
    • He's not able to see what they are, but they are size small or medium humanoinds - so not Ogres, at least, as the party was fearing. Saw 3-4 at a time, but suspects there might be 6 or more.
    • Thurmin suggests this is a pretty unusual amount of coordination and discipline for Servitor types.
  • They formulate a plan: Thurmin and the Dwarves will consolidate a position at the top of the hill and watch the road and gate for signs of activity. Byll will spend the evening surveying the city walls and river, looking for other entrances or weaknesses and return shortly after dawn. Gub and Uhanimara will risk the random encounter checks and sneak nearish the gate to check for other signs of sentry, weakness, or infiltration, then return to the sentry position.

Rewards

• Ogres:
  • 480 xp (240/240 for Thurmin/Kib)
  • 500 gp
  • 25 pp
  • A silver whistle
  • A silver holy symbol
  • A masterwork saddle for some huge beast. It is exotic, and is as much "backpack" as "saddle."
  • A masterwork Gnomish hook-hammer

• (50/50) bonus XP -- Thurmin for remembering Comprehend Languages
  • In a rare moment of frustration, Thurmin finds himself completely out of the loop! Byll and the Dwarves chat in Dwarven about the situation while Uhanimara and Gub talk shop in Goblin. Eventually he can at least understand both threads and offer comentary.
• 1000 plot XP (500/500 for Thurmin/Kib): Finding the city
• 100 bonus XP for... Gub I think? For great RP
• Brunnar gets the "Kill an Ogre" achievement (Byll capped the other two)