Campaign VI: Chapter One, Mission Six

Recap
XP
DM Notes

Recap
The 6th of Vor, 1329 Avard:  Zap, Ethos, and Gabriel argued even as they fled Boulderdash, with Zap at the reins and the Bat right beside him in the wagon, while Ethos and Gabriel road their horses nearby.  Calling out over the headlong wind of their passage, as they galloped and drove west from Boulderdash, they argued over what to do.

Ethos only then remembered that they had left Sirik behind, and the tomanth would be heading right for the Manor of the Bat -- and whatever Doom was coming.  Ethos wanted to split up, and head back to Kashin to find and rescue the tomanth before he could be caught up in his Doom.

Zap argued for turning the wagon towards Mount Lavanor, feeling that there the Bat would be safest.

Gabriel wanted to keep running, and reach Takanal in perhaps two days, or maybe less if they truly pushed the horses.

As Ethos peeled off to go back for Sirik, the rest be damned -- he brought his horse up short.  Shadowing them was a stealthy horse, with a drow rider astride it.  The drow rider had a passenger:  Sirik.

The Bat introduced his Agent, who said that over fifty of the Scorpions were behind them, and headed straight from Kashin for Boulderdash -- and, presumably, could follow the wagon trail that led from the front door out west.  With Maroth high in the sky, even so early in the evening, their trail was relatively easy to follow.

Sirik transferred to the wagon, with the Bat in the back on top of the many books and documents, and the one chest filled with 10,000 ducats, each valued at over a 100 gold.

Hoping against hope that the roc-hawks would not be ahead of them, they decided to run for Takanal, and from there, go south to Rilan.  Zap estimated that they could reach Takanal in a day and a half if they hurried, and he began instructing Sirik on how to work a wagon.  Tomanths, it turned out, required very little sleep.

They rode on for several marks, before spying a small camp just off the road, composed of two large, covered wagons that had been pulled off the road.  The four oxen that drew the wagons were off to one side, bedded down for the night.  Their campfire was still going, and as Xennith investigated quietly, there appeared to be only one man beside the fire, sleeping -- but he knew not what was inside the covered wagons.

Ethos and Xennith went in to the camp to rouse them, and warn them that perhaps certain danger lay before them towards Boulderdash.  Ethos asked for supplies or whatever aid they could give, but indicated haste was important.

The one man that had been asleep beside the fire spoke briefly with someone inside one wagon, and then agreed to give Ethos a bag of food stuffs.

Ethos tried to warn them one last time, and then left, even as Xennith expertly listened in on the conversation between the man and whomever was inside the wagons.

Back at their own wagon, Ethos slipped on the ring that let him detect magical energies, which the Bat had given them seemingly so long ago.  The food inside the sack was enchanted.  Ethos asked of Whalin an augury, and the word was, "Weal," for eating the food.  The missionary of Whalin put the food in the back of the wagon, and together they quickly put distance between themselves and the wagoneers.

Ethos and Zap felt somewhat guilty that they couldn't rouse the wagoneers to action, and poor Gabriel had slept through most of the encounter, rousing only as they had fled the scene.

Perhaps half a mark later, they could see flashes of light behind them, and the distant rumble of thunder.  Gabriel, fully awake by that point, was astonished.  So, too, were Ethos and Zap.  Behind them at the camp of the wagoneers, a battle erupted between a priest of Brigain and those who would hunt the Bat.

Fireballs and lightning were exchanged, even as a great roc-hawk roared in frustration far behind them.

The party drove on, even harder.

Throughout the night, and most of the way into the next day, they pushed the horses as quickly as they could without killing them, snatching sleep or rest when they could in the saddle.  Xennith kept a wary eye behind them and above them, waiting for trouble to erupt.

Barely two marks from sunset, they crested a hill to see Takinal below them in the valley.

From there, they went immediately to Father Tomalis and his wife, who welcomed them openly and with great subterfuge.  The Bat's face was hidden behind a cloak of disguise, as was Ethos'.  Zap had shaved his head and looked road-weary enough to be someone else.  Xennith and Gabriel were unknowns in Takanal.  And no one could tell the tomanths apart.

They quickly unloaded the wagon at the large temple, and while Sirik disposed of the wagon and the horses, they all crashed into slumber, safe at last within the sanctity of the great Tree Temple in Takanal.

-so ends the 8th of Davor, 1329 Avard.

XP Awarded
1,200.   (total character XP to date is 11,200)

DM's Notes
I'm running dangerously close to Burn Out.  I haven't run this many sessions, this close together, in a long time.  But, it's a send-off for one of our friends, so I'll see if I can pull it off, without having to take a long break from the game.  Maybe next weekend, I can take off...  (wimper)

Tonight we got to introduce a friend of Ramon's, Samuel Lee, to our style of play.  Sam's a Korean-American living here in Ouijongbu, and he's been giving lessons in guitar to Ramon.  We welcomed him aboard with his drow rogue, whose 'Agent' status for the Bat let him fit in perfectly.

I hadn't noticed it before, but earlier the group defeated an evil 'spider man' mage.  And now, they're working for the 'bat man' counter-conspiracist.  Perhaps there's a subliminal super-hero thing going on, here?

Last Mission
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