Team MeFight Sixty-First Session

Dogtown

• The party regroups after their recalibration fight, having taken a rather sound beating.
• After awakening, they notice they were being watched by something that left a large indentation in the grass. It has been gone for a while by the time they're up.
• Travel continues without incident for a couple of days. Hamlets are completely abandoned.
• There is a ruined town at a river crossing that shows signs of regular foot traffic--heavy mounts and heavy bipeds walking beside them. The party gives it some berth while keeping an eye on things.
• The day before they know they are scheduled to arrive (with help from Anise and Mags), Kib takes some pains to look less like a goody-two-shoes-dwarf-lover.
• They approach a major city, and come across the first sign of habitation since entering the area. The woods have been clear-cut on all sides, and the walls appear well-maintained and regularly patrolled, but not by Goodly races--the inhabitants are gnolls.
• Kib adopts a swaggering, mercenary persona as the party approaches the gates. The gates begin to open, and the party stops to wait while a sortie rides out to meet them. The force is a couple dozen gnolls mounted on owlbears, and their gear is well-made and -maintained, and they are armed with lance and javelin [ed: and probably a sidearm that I didn't note, longsword or whatever].
• Some initial language negotiation happens, and then the discussion begins
  • The party learns that they know kobold, but not very well, and they call it the "language of the bankers". Maybe a bit more surprisingly, they are all fluent in Odessan.
  • The gnolls don't know what to make of the party. Kib introduces himself as Dolan Gildemore, leader of a group of killers for hire (a point that sails over the heads of the rather dull gnolls at first). This piques their interest, and they fetch a higher-up.
  • Said higher-up has a bodyguard of large figures (presumably other gnolls) in full plate. He calls himself Two-Dogg, and he speaks for the Leader of the Pack. Mags is able to determine that he is a divine magic user with a moderate evil aura.
  • Two-Dogg relates how they'd made a long and dangerous pilgrimage from their original homeland in the Western part of Odessa, in a plateaued savannah known as the Eld. They refer to this new place as "Dogtown", and consider it their divine right to occupy.
  • Occasionally, Two-Dogg's dialogue is punctuated by a bark-bark-howl call-response that his compatriots all participate in.
  • He tells the party that if they can rid them of a necromancer menace to the East, they'll allow them audience with the Leader of the Pack. "Dolan" accepts.
• Gnob's Folly wastes no time and rides East.

Puppetmaster

• The ride is pleasant, on a road that follows a river course. It is mostly uneventful, until just a ways out of the town that supposedly houses the necromancer.
• The party approaches a group of wooden mannequins arranged around boulders. A sign in the middle reads, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN MY TEA PARTY?", in crude lettering. Kib decides to avoid it. In so doing, the party stumbles upon a group of treants!
  • The treants are easily able to get the drop on the group, blending into the woods as they do. Calling their tree minions, they work to surround them.
  • Gilerl swings from limb to limb, landing blows from the treants' own canopies. It's pretty freakin' anime.
  • Anise does steady damage with her longbow, pushing through DR through sheer volume.
  • Kib barrels around, mostly just trying to attract treant attention. His guisarme does some damage in the process.
  • Mags throws curses around, missing a clutch one but getting a couple of -AC debuffs in.
  • Thoven spends his first turn going invisible, as usual, then proceeds to completely obliterate his natural enemy. Dragon's breath and fireball, as probably expected, are massively useful against wooden opponents.
  • Tenpence takes a blow too many and goes into negatives, but manages to be stabilized. Gilerl also takes some significant damage, but the rest of the party ends up in okay shape.
  • The fight is won. Anise kicks over a rock and finds their secret stash:
    • Some equipment:
      • Masterwork Bastard Sword (335 gp)
      • Masterwork Dagger (302 gp)
      • Masterwork Handaxe (306 gp)
      • Masterwork Light Crossbow (335 gp)
      • 2 x Masterwork Longspear (305 gp)
      • Masterwork Padded Armor (155 gp)
      • Masterwork Rapier (320 gp)
      • Masterwork Shortbow (330 gp)
      • Masterwork Spear (302 gp)
      • Masterwork Tower Shield (180 gp)
      • Masterwork Warhammer (312 gp)
    • Some gems:
      • Agate (10 gp)
      • Agate (11 gp)
      • Alabaster (10 gp)
      • Aquamarine (500 gp)
      • Azurite (7 gp)
      • Azurite (13 gp)
      • Coral (70 gp)
      • Hematite (9 gp)
      • Ivory (60 gp)
      • Jasper (60 gp)
      • Jet (90 gp)
      • Malachite (9 gp)
      • 2 x Malachite (11 gp)
      • Moonstone (50 gp)
      • Onyx (65 gp)
      • Opal (350 gp)
      • Rhodochrosite (9 gp)
      • Smoky Quartz (45 gp)
      • Smoky Quartz (55 gp)
      • Smoky Quartz (60 gp)
      • Turquoise (10 gp)
      • Turquoise (12 gp)
    • Some consumables:
      • Potion of Protection from Good (cr, 50 gp)
      • Potion of Protection from Law (cr, 50 gp)
      • Scroll of Alter Self (cr, 150 gp)
      • Scroll of Ant Haul (apg, 25 gp)
      • Scroll of Elemental Touch (apg, 150 gp)
      • Scroll of Fox's Cunning (cr, 150 gp)
      • Scroll of Heat Metal (cr, 150 gp)
      • Scroll of Resist Energy (cr, 150 gp)
      • Scroll of Sound Burst (cr, 150 gp)
      • Scroll of Spider Climb (cr, 150 gp)
      • Wand of Bless (cr, 750 gp)
      • Wand of Burning Hands (cr, 750 gp)
      • Wand of Charm Person (cr, 750 gp)
      • Wand of Command (cr, 750 gp)
      • Wand of Mage Hand (cr, 375 gp)
      • Wand of Reduce Person (cr, 750 gp)
      • Wand of Remove Fear (cr, 750 gp)
• Mags summons a temporary cottage for them to occupy over the night, and they rest.
• The night passes incident-free. When they awaken, however, a figure at 65' begins speaking to them.
  • Mags determines that it's a Magic Mouth spell of at least 5th level
  • [ed: the monologue is something about coming to play]
  • Kib gets closer to inspect the figure. He and Anise both notice simultaneously that it is a boy zombie--exactly as Kib begins to relate this to the party, Anise lets fly a volley. The zombie boy charges, but is easily dispatched.
  • Further inspection reveals that this boy was clearly a Green Plague zombie at some point, but has since been reanimated as a normal zombie. His clothing is well-made, and in much better condition than his body, suggesting it was put on him after the fact.
• The party finds this peculiar, but continues.
• They approach the town. It, too, is in good repair. Its walls are manned with soldiers of uncanny, almost robotic precision.
• Tibbers takes the lay of the land, and is able to report that the city streets are completely immaculate. Towards its center is a governance district whose houses have all been painted in garish colors. Figures walk from place to place, mechanically playing out roles without interacting with each other. The party digests this, and works to decide what to do with this information.

Awards

• 500 xp to all for Dog-Town contact
• 3500 xp to all for the Treant highway bandits