Low Road Session 2 Play Report

Low Road continued recently. I was feeling much more confident this time and we managed to have a really fun session! First report here!

So this time Ellisar (Elf played by Zelda), Alora (Fighter played by 7th), Johannes (Thief played by Owl), Callentius (Magic-User played by CptMufincubes), and Warren (Cleric played by Jozo) found themselves at an Inn under threat by a number of Wyld Elves. The Innkeeper's special spirit that the company delivered had been sabotaged, the barrels punctured by a lone cleric, an Elf-touched (One parent was a Wyld Elf, the other was human) looking to make certain his father would come to get him.

The Wyld Elf which emerged from magical darkness was all angles rather than the usual curves of flesh. He called out for the Innkeeper. While Alora and Johannes went out to face the elves with the innkeeper, Warren and Ellisar attempted to soak up the alcohol. Callentius drank. Alora stalled for time. Callentius peaked outside and recognized the character as the Huntmaster of the Wyld Hunt. It was revealed that The Huntmaster brought two of his lieutenants both of which goaded him on to take what was rightfully his from the humans. The Huntmaster recognized the saboteur priest as his "pup" and promised him that he would be at the Huntmaster's side if he proved himself in the hunt.

Around this time Warren emerged with a recovered cask of the ale, casting Purify Food and Water on it to make it presentable. Despite his lieutenants' groaning, the Huntmaster accepted the spirit and turned to leave. One of the elves approached, Ellisar, seeing her obsidian medallion, emblazoned with the name of her Wyld Elf father. "Oh, even that old traitor has whelps? You must have been from right before he was captured! Maybe you can keep that old architect company in his cage!" Ell was stunned as the elf snickers and dashed off into the night.

Once it seemed the coast was clear, everyone engaged in some relieved debauchery until they went back to sleep. The next day, the party made good on their word to escort the old scholar and his ward to get his flora samples on their way back to Four Kings. 

The road from the inn was the top of a crumbling stone wall from some forgotten structure, party consumed by the hills. They arrived at the place where a slope of dirt descended to the road along which the scholar claimed they would find what his colleague had sent him to look for. A strangely sweet smell wafted on the air and Ellisar felt a chill of dread from her elven senses. Johannes took it upon himself to scout out ahead. Tall pines crowded him on either side and the sickly sweet smell only got stronger as he went deeper. Eventually, he came upon a place where it seemed to be snowing. There was no vast drop in temperature, indeed it actually felt slightly warmer here, yet larch white flakes fell to the ground, gathering in clumps and clinging strangely to the side of trees, producing a blood-red sap. Beyond the bizarre precipitation was some kind of structure, a rainbow gleam emerging from near its top. Johannes let his canary fly into the place and immediately it was born down by the flakes, hopping back towards it master as red drenched its feathers. He took care to wash off the bird without touching it with his bare hands and returned to the party with his findings.

The scholar took the towel covered in the substance and put it in a sealed glass jar, satisfied with his sample. He also let on that this location is also said to be a graveyard of some kind. They shrugged at what they had seen and resolved to return later with more protective measures.

They continued back to the cliffs where they had encountered the centipedes and struck upon an old alcove, carved from the stone by dwarves. They speculated this is some kind of rest stop made by the dwarves who attempted to settle this area. They approached the bearded maw of the dwarven tomb and were surprised to find it changed. The hall about 20 ft from he mouth was blackened by what they saw was charcoal and there were scorched dwarven remains in the middle of it. 

Ellisar took the scholar and boy back to the alcove while Callentius, Johannes, and Warren stayed to explore the dungeon. Johannes noticed the large pressure plate on the floor and there was a rectangular stone panel in the wall beyond it. Callentius cast Spider Climb on Johannes so he could bypass the plate. He opened up the panel, levering it open with his 10ft pole and removed the flint and tinder on the arm that fell out. He shoved a piton in the gears and climbed back to the entrance. He pushed down on the plate and gas started releasing in the hall and the teeth of the maw tried to close. They shoved a rock in the teeth and climbed under. 

They went down a spiral staircase. They went down a southern corridor and took a turn to the east. A metal grate catwalk run across the room with the floor 10ft below. There are some shinies among the bones on the floor and int he drains lining the bottom. Overhead there were statues of dwarves with their mouths wide open. The room smelled wet and the party could hear a dripping sound. They tied a rope around Johannes and he descended to the floor. As soon as he laid a foot on the floor, water started gushing from above and the doors shut. They broke down the door to let Johannes back in.

They continued down the hall they came from to the south and had to crawl under a dart trap. They discovered an underground spring down another eastern passage when they heard chittering speech of several creatures coming from the hall to the south. The party tried making noise like they were many people to scare them off. One of the creatures peak in. It is a gray-green creature with paneled eyes, mandibles, many arms, and long-pointed ears. Callentius suspects it is some kind of goblin. The creature backs up and the party couldn't hear them anymore. 

They head out back into the hall to find that the creatures had just been hiding down the hall, their bows ready. The party took a few shots and fled. Callentius crawled under the dart trap while the others shot back and then tried to cartwheel through the dart trap to keep up with their comrade. They manage to avoid the darts, got shot at weakly by the creatures and fled back to the surface.

Callentius suggests not returning to the tomb at least for the time present.