Session 32: Caverns of Boreas

Blemmys

Once again unemployed and hoping for a way to speak with blink dogs, the band took up Thornlet's advice and tried to clear out a horrific feyhole the north wind was using to try and establish a base.
Finding some rough-hewn stairs leading out of a tree, Flint was immediately suspicious. Stalwart as ever, he barreled in, only to notice two horrible Quicklings. Luckily he dispatched one with extreme prejudice via divine might. The second quicklinged its way up and stabbed him in his ribs, shoulder, and kidney in a split second.

About the same time, a monstrous Domovoi emerged from beneath the threshold, behind him.
Well and truly screwed, Flint hoped his companions could drop at least one of the two so Adreham could guide his hammer home on the other.

Lynnya was also briefly downed by one of the Quicklings, but Volodemir remedied the situation rapidly. That fight ended in some way. The haze of battle makes it hard to recall. Flint was good enough to delve deeper, thinking the worst was over.

Girl, it was not. Don't stumble in to a storeroom with a roughspun cot against the wall and assume you're good. A flippin' Blemmys jumped out of nowhere and pummeled the shit out of Flint as he protected his less blessed companions with some divine guardianship.

The group did their usual pummel/magic/shoot business on the awful beast for a while, but eventually Flint found his head potato rattled against his brain box and couldn't move. This was a real first. To be followed shortly by another first. Being swallowed whole by a Blemmys. Without many options, Flint chugged his emergency major healing potion and hoped for the best from his companions. Just as he was about to open his ever-smoking bottle just to see what would happen, Goblin struck down the beast and Flint started acting like being eaten and digested wasn't the scariest thing that had ever happened to him. In unrelated news, he advocated for a retreat, to see what Thornlet Thistlekin had actually known about what she had sent the Abolitionists in to in the first place.

Gotta find some sort of ring of stomach acid resistance...

Session 31: Falcon Keep and Winter Wolves

The next morning, Flint prayed to Adreham that he would heal the gypsy child, so that they might see the benefits of civilization, so one day they might come to settle down. The gypsy child was healed, and so the Abolitionists climbed into their spider vehicle, Volodemir following behind on his otter.

After about a day of wandering, they came across a battered keep, with a pennant bearing a black falcon on gold. They asked for entrance and a place to sleep, and after verifying that they were not evil, the knights let them in. The castle was rundown, but still sturdy, and Volodemir marveled at the stable of bears the knights kept as mounts. They had an excellent meal in the dining hall where, despite the thick accent of the knights, they were able to learn the location of the priestess of Ryanna. They discussed the problem of the kobolds, with the knights indicating there had been some minor skirmishes, but no real contact.

 The next morning, they set out to the west, and near nightfall came across the small cottage that housed the hermit, Thornlet Thistlekin. She was blunt and abrasive, but allowed the party to stay the next morning. The next morning, she told them "I know why yer here. But you gotta prove yerselfs first. Three quests. There's a pack of werewolves laired in the woods. If you take them out, I'll tell ya the next one." Needing to learn the language of the blink dogs, the party set out towards where Thornlet had indicated the werewolves had their lair. Before going there, the party returned to Falcon Keep to buy silver arrows to aid them against the werewolves.

On the way there, the party was astonished when Flint tripped over his own shoelaces. They heard laughing in the bushes, and went to investigate. There was a small purple dragon! Flint reached for his warhammer as it hummed angrily, but Volodemir told him to leave it alone. It was a faerie dragon which, while puckish, were generally friendly creatures. They were able to befriend him, and he offered to help distract the werewolves.

So, while the party snuck up on one side of the werewolf camp, the faerie dragon created a huge light show on the other side. It worked, and the werewolves were quickly decimated, not least by means of Lynnya's silver arrows. They turned to head back to Thornlet's cottage. The way back was not uneventful, however, as they were ambushed by three winter wolves! The Abolitionists nearly succumbed to the cold breath of the wolves, but survived, and were able to defeat them. On returning to Thornlet's cottage, she told them that they were servants of Boreas, the north wind, and it was probably related to the next question she had for them...

Session 30: The Blood Hag

After saving the cursed centaur from killing himself and convincing him to help us, we continued on our quest to save the pregnant woman and child. Approaching a ravine we saw on the other side of the water several child size coffins. Knowing that time was of the essence we left the area without investigating this strange site. Sadly, the gods took issue with this and we were set upon by small wooden constructs. In all my years I have never seen their like and the effect they had on my comrades took us all by surprise. Poor Volodomir became so full of himself I thought it may take a mountain to crush his ego. Lynne was stuck with the complete opposite affliction, overcome by sloth. Luckily we were able to destroy these creatures and their magic had no long lasting effect. Undaunted we pushed on.

Eventually we came upon a house that looked like a huge spider hanging over the ravine. Flint attempted to climb down to the spider house but lost his balance and landed in the fast moving river below. With the use of his magical rope Goblin was able to rescue Flint and get him to the spider house safely. Searching the house turned up nothing but a strange chest. The odd device was larger on the inside than it appeared as poor Volodomir soon found out. As he stuck his hand inside the chest, searching for a vase to help us save the women and child, the magical box swallowed him. We looked to the Imp to help us free Volodomir but this creature was of no use. Thankfully the quick thinking of Flint saved the day and together we were able to stop Volodomir from suffocating -- it took eight arms to make anything inside the chest solid. After finding the vase we knew it was time to return.

At this point the Imp proved its usefulness, telling us that this house was indeed a spider like structure we could use as a transport to cover more ground. We must have been quite the sight for anyone wandering by. Arriving at the inn we gave the vase to the gypsies but thought it best to wait outside as the exorcism was performed. Waiting, we prayed for salvation but planned for damnation. Sadly, events went as we assumed they would and after the screams stopped we entered the bedroom. Once in the room we saw all of the gypsies dead and a ghastly hag covered in blood. Through our combined efforts we were able to defeat her but not without severe cost to Flint. With time his face will heal but we were blessed that no soul was lost to damnation that day.