April 2nd, 2017

There And Back: Hard Times In The Cursed Valley

First Recovery in Rimwatch to Second Recovery in Rimwatch and What Happened in Between

The adventurers of the day from left to right:

Nilo playing Kag the Rapidly Advancing Human Magic-user ™

Nick playing Merrick of the Killer Chinchillas Human Fighter

Chris playing Deckard the Multi-Tool Human Ex-Fighter Thief

New Matt playing Randy Rhoads (seriously) the Halfling Bard

Sarai playing Desorna the Distracted Elven Axe-Maiden Swordswoman Fighter

Hunter playing Strix the Excessively Clean Elven Magic-User

Zack playing LaVeya the Regenerationist Human Druid

and, as always, The Munificent DM playing Catherine's character Ydee the “How Much You Got?” Half-Elven Thief

The party spent some time in the rebuilding town of Rimwatch View with some training their skills and others assisting with the rebuilding process. A few weeks passed in the meantime as the process continued and several minor and beneficial events happened.

Between the efforts of LaVeya, Wilma the older druidic midwife, and Lakmar the dwarven cleric the wounded have been helped to recover more quickly and more fully than they would have if left on their own. Captain Carrick and his thirty man unit arrived to provide for greater security and with a group of builders and a dwarven engineer to oversee the improvements and reinforcements for the defensive wall to the south. While the captain's troops provided patrols and defenses the builders improved and strengthened the south-facing wall and mounted two light ballistae, called scorpions, on platforms facing the forest line. These platforms were also outfitted with blocks and limited fields of fire to prevent the scorpions from being turned back against the town by invaders.

After a few weeks had passed the defensive wall was complete and the troops were living in the barracks that had been built to buttress the center section of the new wall. The captain and his adjutants were often in meetings with the various leaders in town to ensure that the townsfolk and troops were comfortable together. Off duty troops also helped with the rebuilding of the damaged and destroyed buildings in town, including the Dancing Pony and the Merchant's Exchange to encourage camaraderie between the townsfolk and the troops.

Once all was returning to normal and the situations were stable, and the adventurers were trained to use their new abilities, the adventurers decided to return to the Cursed Valley and attempt to learn what they could about the ruins of the ancient Mkemba Palace and the yuan ti and other creatures living in the valley. With the gift of some rations for their journey, the party headed off toward the Rim again.

Once on the Rim they headed east to see if they could find the place where the towers were visible. The mists over the valley were heavier now than they had been which limited their view. The first night Desorna heard some rustling in the brush from down slope toward the valley, so she woke Deckard to go investigate. As they headed down slope they encountered three lizard men hiding in the brush and battle was joined. Between them they managed to quickly overcome the lizard men and returned to camp to find four more lizard men rushing into camp to attack their sleeping friends. Battle was joined again with many of the group being awakened in the most rude ways possible to enter the fray. This battle was quickly won too, though the druid in her comfy bedroll managed to sleep through it entirely. Which was probably good for the purposes of healing the wounded later.

The next day the party finally found the tops of the towers poking over the trees and found the route they had used to descend into the valley previously. Deckard stuck a ten foot pole into the ground and tied a rag to it as a flag and they descended. Heading into the swampy forest they took what they thought would be the best and most direct path toward the towers, but a while later found themselves at the base of a cliff that was part of the Rim. Slightly frustrated and annoyed they found a narrow switchback trail up the wall a ways away and used it to climb back out of the valley with a few minor falls along the way.

Once back on top they found the point where they could see the tower tops and then they found Deckard's flag so they could descend again. This time they were certain that they would find the proper path that would lead them to the ruins of the palace, but instead they ended up wandering randomly until they stumbled into a fairly large clearing (roughly 100 yards across) with a marshy lake filling it and a smallish island in the center on which there was a brown-black drake with a white muzzle glaring at them. In spite of their fears of impending death, especially as not everyone was healed, the drake chose to speak to them. Some time was spent in conversation before the party said they were just trying to find the old ruins. Ashbeak (as it was he) told them that there was a path behind him that would take them to the ruins, and encouraged them to go there. Not quite trusting the drake, the party still circled the lake watching the drake as he watched them as they went along. Finding the trail they hurried off down it. The late afternoon changed to evening as they walked and the light began to grow dim, leading to them getting off of the path and coming to another large and marshy lake. Two heads on serpentine necks rose out of the marsh to attack Desorna and the battle was on.

Some too close placement of fireball spells by Strix toasted the fighters as well as the serpent heads, but four more appeared and the battle grew more difficult as the monster was obviously a hydra. Finally all six heads were gone, and Merrick used his ring of water walking to move out across the lake to try to find the body of this beast and destroy it too. Unfortunately what he found were two more attacking heads from the hydra. They were quickly dispatched and sank beneath the waves and Merrick returned to shore disappointed since he couldn't find any sign of the body of the hydra through the thickly murky waters of the lake. Obstinately the party continued on through the continually deepening darkness. Finally, after time spent wandering, they found a small hill rising out of the muck and murky waters where they could rest for the night. Setting watches the party rested for the night.

On the last watch Desorna was taken by surprise as three huge venomous snakes came up the hill to attack her. She was bitten and venom pumped into her veins. Failing one save she collapsed in a heap but managed to squeak out a warning before unconsciousness overtook her. Several of her companions were awakened by her squeak and collapse and they leapt to battle these snakes. The battle was difficult with Strix also collapsing due to the effects of the poison. Once the battle was over the unconscious elves were checked for signs of life. Though they had survived they were severely weakened upon awakening. But the party continued on.

More wandering once again led them to Ashbeak, though from a different direction. The drake was much more curt this time, sending them off on the previously attempted trail, but in the daylight this time. As they moved down the trail they encountered two large yuan-ti, each standing over seven feet tall and with well-muscled human bodies except for the serpent head and the long serpent's tail each had. The party attacked quickly with weapons and spell and Desorna leapt into the forefront of battle, charging the yuan-ti with her broad sword out and ready. Unfortunately the yuan-ti quickly hit her hard with their two-handed swords, dropping her below zero hit points and leaving her to bleed out. At this Kag opened a parley and managed to bring hostilities to a halt for the moment. The yuan-ti told the party that the drake had sent for them the day before to meet the party on the trail and escort them to the ruins, but they had been unable to meet the party on the trail. While the discussions continued, LaVeya managed to use a minor regen spell to stabilize Desorna and then dragged her back to the party. As compensation for the fireball that they had been subjected to, the yuan-ti demanded a payment of fifty gold each before they hacked the remaining members to death. Strix approached them offering the only item of value she had left, the amulet of life protection she had been given by Lakmar. Seeing her as the greatest threat after her fireball, the yuan-ti had their swords out and pointed at her. She tried to hang the amulet on one of the swords as a gift, but the yuan-ti flung it into the brush beside the trail with a flick of his sword. Frustrated by this, Strix decided to do what ol' Jack Burton would do at a time like this so she tossed a fireball behind them so that they would be toasted and she would be fine. Unfortunately, continuing the theme of the week, she misjudged the distance and even with her saving throw the damage reduced her to zero hit points and killed the yuan-ti. The bodies were looted and the amulet retrieved and the druid got both downed characters back up again so the party could try to slowly escape the valley.

Four days later they were finally back to the town where Desorna took to her bed in the new Dancing Pony Inn for her recovery time of a week and a day. The rest of the party did various other things and met with various people to exchange information. Earl was in town when they arrived and was prepared to go to see Avonlea with the information the party had. Since he was now welcome there, Deckard traveled with him to see the archdruid.

As the party rests and recovers we halted for the week.

Experience per character:

Kag: 1,536

Merrick: 1,736 after rebuilding xp
Deckard: 1,536

Randy: 1,536

Desorna: 1,383

Strix: 1,536

LaVeya: 1,636 with aiding survivors to heal more quickly xp

Ydee: 768