Session 9: Los Banditos

 

The group decided that, given the presumed continued servitude of the unicorn Mario, they should follow the circus and liberate him on behalf of his paramour Peach. But first, they wanted to take care of the bandits that were plaguing Perrin, even to the point of robbing Lady Blanche Assez of her favorite necklace. Lord Marcel offered a reward for the return of the necklace and the elimination of bandit threat. The party decided that the best plan would be to bait them with an apparent cargo of wine and brandy; they also poisoned the brandy to weaken the camps defenses. Remy's silver tongue convinced his former employers to donate the wine and brandy to be used in this cause.

And for once, their plan went off without a hitch! When they had tracked the bandits to the camp, they found most of the thieves sleeping. Guy went from tent to tent, slitting throats as the bandits slept. One group who had either resisted the poison or the lure of demon rum was quickly dispatched before the party went to the central tent. There, the captain of the bandits Robbin' 'Ood tried to defend his stash, but he was no match for his enemies. The group repatriated the treasure to the citizens of Perrin, and then prepared to travel to Tervel, where they believed the circus awaited them.

Session 8: Let's Join the Circus!

Oh, what a terrible discovery I have made! Those scheming goblins at the circus have finally gone too far! Ay, those danged goblins... As Bart, my new Dwarf buddy from these parts would say, "donnez confidance ze bons gobelins!" I don't really speak the language so well, but I think he meant never trust those friendly goblins.

I found the telltale hoof pattern unique to my licornes and shortly thereafter came upon my precious, proud Peaches. Good heavens! - the poor thing was surrounded by ferocious bêtes de chat, and appeared to be losing the fight. Bart called them les chats de merde - and now I know that means cats of the moon. By the time we defeated these fiendish beasts, and I made myself over to my poor, pretty Peaches, she was being succored by my new compatriot Remy. Her wounds having been tended to, I gave her additional healing, for she still looked weaker than I was comfortable with. The air was filled with soot from a fireball someone used to hurt the moon cats as I attempted to ready my charge for a return to le cirque. Imagine my surprise, when she told me that she and Mario had escaped! I still didn't get it, but then she showed me the swollen welts on her noble hide, where the ringmaster had whipped her. How horrible!

Well that does it! - I am definitely not okay with the way Cirque de Gobelines Extraordinares blamed me for the mass escape of all of mes animaux - but now I know the truth - that it was in fact mes licornes that were behind the great circus animal escape. I only wish I had caught up with Peaches sooner - for she described all of the terrible treatments of the animals - oh the shame I am feeling for my poor animals who were counting on me. I have heard stories about druids losing their powers for harming their animals - and I must make amends posthaste!

No signs of my faithful Mario, but I trust he is better far far away from here. I trust that he and Peaches will be reunited, and can live a relatively calm life after all their abuse at the hands of the goblins. I am tempted to go back to the circus with Baby Bear - I believe they are about to pitch their tent in Tervel - for I must finish the job of freeing the beasts! If I am ever back at le cirque, then I must also remember to grab my juggling clubs, so that I can resume my practices.

Session 8: Random Things my GM Thought Were Good Ideas

Ever have one of those dreams where you are standing in front of creatures you can't identify and they are attacking a unicorn?? I think I may still be reeling from the affects of fighting the mushroom people? I have no idea, but this is where I found myself with my comrades as I regained conciseness. 

Barth, ever the fellow to throw himself head long in combat ran straight away into what would soon be the fray and started hacking with his axe. Everyone joined suit and within a short time we defeated these creatures and saved the unicorn. Gnick and I spoke with the unicorn and he explained how he came to be in this situation and the plight of his brother unicorn having escaped the circus. We felt bad that he now has to search for his brother but we wouldn't be able to help with this at the moment. We wished him well in finding his brother and went on our way. 

We've decided that we should head back to Perrin. We can return with our heads held high alerting the town to our successfully ending the threat from the druids and leshies. Barth is excited he can work in the blacksmith shop and repair/upgrade his armor. I need to check in with my family and see how things are going back at home. 

On the road we happened upon a traveler bearing a crest of  local group of militants. Under normal circumstances I would expect some hostility for my parentage but this adventurer seemed affable enough and even expressed some interest in our joining his group of comrades. All in all this was an interesting meeting as we've gathered not only does this group have a problem with the king but this individual hales from an area we planned to investigate. The local lord of this Castle Amber may have an association with the druid we just dispatched. 

Further along the road we spied a group of Gnolls. Expecting the worst we prepared ourselves for an ambush. Quite unexpectedly they were only on the search of information. They requested from us if we knew of the whereabouts of a Wemic. Though we had no clue of such a GnollsAsh had some general knowledge of, or an image of this creature being somewhere east of us. The Knolls thanked us for our information and mentioned there would be a reward for the capture of this criminal. We were told to share any information we had at an Inn in Perrin. I must say here that I am quite alarmed that in all my years in Perrin I've never seen nor known that you could pass information to Gnolls? There is something going on at home that I am not aware of and it doesn't feel right. 

Session 8: Riding the Unicorn

I did a search for 'unicorn hunted by cats and the results were delightful

It seems just after I finished fixing my sweet sturdy Babbette and the doughty Jean-Jorge we were off when Gnormal spotted the hoof tracks of his unicorn, such a coincidence! We follow these tracks a short distance then we see in the distance this unicorn horse being attacked by several moon cats (not funny looking dogs, I now know this). Zut Alors! This unicorn horse is the very same that Gnormal is looking for, and her name is Peaches. I am quick to engage, but the unicorn and cats are even faster, I feel somewhat helpless as I see the cats attacking Peaches.

No honor, there are so many of them! As soon as I can I run forward to engage the one cat that decided to face us with Gnormal, and the little fellow is doing his best even as the cat has him in its jaws. These cats are strong, but they are no match for our teamwork and tactics. I hope we can make it to the unicorn before it's too late. I try to trick some of the cats and get them to attack me by showing them my back, but they are not enticed yet.

We cut down the cat, and then move forward. While Remy, Baby Bear, and I engage the cats that move to face us. Clooney and Gnormal run ahead bravely to save Peaches. Clooney even got mauled pretty badly for his bravery, but he will probably just have a cool scar or something as a result. Cloony and Gnormal heal Peaches and Ash shoots a ball of fire in an arc over us that was such a beautiful sight, like the famous dwarfball player Rocky Buckets. Even though the cats never tried my shield they fell all the same, and my axe helped a little.

After that Gnormal spoke with Peaches, these horny horses can speak! Zut Alors! It turns out that Peaches and Mario escaped from Gnormal's circus and they are happier being free, we do not know where Mario is, but if we find him I hope it is a happy reunion for my hon homme!

We bid Peaches adieu, then finally made it to the road to Perrin and then, the traffic today, jeez. First we run into this very clean fancy knight on a horse. At first I was impressed because he has a nice shield, and some bird heraldry heraldry the other recognized, and I am learning that the tall folk are no so useless in a scrap as we tend to think, but he looks like the type that is mostly talk. Like a big fancy mine cart that you never mine with, but instead you just ride around the settlement trying to impress other dwarves with, but never get dirty, eh? Clooney keeps me from sharing my observations, how will this guy improve without feedback?? Probably for the best eh? It turns out he is from Castle Amber, which is where that evil elf sent his slimes, we were very canny, but it did not seem like he knew much. We will have to go there to investigate sooner or later, I can feel it in my beard.

We continue walking and then we see some gnolls waiting on the road. This was a gnoll patrol and they were looking for a Wemic criminal named Lyan el-Ritchie which is a new type of person for me, but I am very open minded. We did not know this man, but the gnolls they tell us if we can capture him then they will pay us 4000 gold!! Zut alors! What I could create with that, it really sets my heart aflame. Ash, he is a seer and he looked into his strange mysteries to provide some guidance to these fellows with his magic powers. Amazing! The gnolls tell us we can contact them through the tavern keeper back in Perrin, I sure will if I hear anything, I want that gold!!

Such a busy day!

Session 7: More bandit trouble

That stupid elf druid was making slimes for other elves (probably) to cause more mayhem, tabernak! After I slew him, we look around and find a neat arrow and his magic spear. I have been noticing Gnick trying to use his spear to poke the enemies and I know he is trying hard to fighter like a little bear so I give him some pointer later eh? He should get that magic spear to use, I think he will be a great warrior someday, and maybe I can figure out how to copy that enchantment to make better weapons for my bon hommes and Remy so they are better at fighting to eh.

So we head back to Copse de Letin to visit the other gnomes before going back to Perrin figure out what is next. The gnomes are hospitable as usual, but they know nothing of the other evil elves and I think maybe Gnick doesn't really convey his thoughts on this, but I am not one for talking so I mind my business.

The next morning we set off for Perin and we are enjoying a nice walk around some boulders and trees when this man says there is a toll on the road. But we did not pay it before, and he has a shifty look to me, so I think he is probably a ruffian I can scare off if I show him what a real axe looks like. But then, this smart human pulls out a little baby axe and thinks that will scare me! HA! He calls his friends who were hiding on the boulder, and they all have little axes in their belts like they are dwarven children, HAHA. I am sure he thinks that scares me, and I admit they were quick to try and take advantage, but those humans could barely hit the broadside of a cave troll with their little slings.

We know we are in for a rowdy fete, and I look at my bon hommes and wink because I know they are giving me the signal to do my thing and they will be right behind me. They move into the bushes which is a weird way to charge, but I see them throwing magic so that is useful I bet. Then my homme Ash gives my axe some magic and Attache ta Tuque I showed those bandits was a big boy axe does. I run up and chop the mouthy one and his friends they try to shoot me, but it mostly bounces off my armor, HAHAHA. One of my hommes, I think Cloony burns off the first guys face, then Ash runs up and becomes a ladder! So useful, what a good friend! I jump on his hands then run up the wall to get near the rest of the bandits who haven't run away for some reason. They think they have me flanked, but really they have front row seats to hear my axe sing a sweet song. One of them I get right in the face, then Clooney kills him too, such timing! Another tries to attack me from behind, but he finds out about Babette and she blocks his attack then pushes him off of the boulder so my hommies can mess him up. Babette, she needs to take a break so I put her on the ground and bring out her brother, Jean-Jorge. These guys, they are still attacking me with their little axes, and sometimes it hurts, but my homies got my back and I will use some of these baby axes for throwing later I think.

So we saved the money on the toll, and I like to think their ghosts learned a lesson about axe measuring contests.