Session 2.3

Hardholme Season 2, Episode 3 -- 9/6/2018
In attendance: Chris (as Chris lol), Lauren (Aurelae), Caspar (Aequitus), Thayer (Gramarsh), Eric (Ulrich), and Steve (Kamara).

Journey to the East Temple on the Mount to kill “The Creep”

PREVIOUSLY, ON HARDHOLME:

Remember when we went to the Eastern Temple on the Mount up by the Northern Forest (with the Richard People a.k.a. Puptars a.k.a. Canar)? And remember how we rescued Maurice and Sophia from this room with no windows and the walls/floor/ceiling/every-fucking-thing was covered in this crazy, pulsing, LIVING, black growth stuff? Yeeeeaaaahhh… soooo… guess we got distracted by, oh idk, small stuff like the Red Hyla invasion and we forgot about it, so we’re gonna go make sure that ish isn’t… growing like kudzu and… taking over all of Kazzaran’s Valley…

@Hardholme
The group pays Maurice and Sophia a visit to see if they have any words of advice about the temple that they were prisoners in for years. They share their plan to go and make sure the black growth is destroyed. A look of abject horror passes over Maurice’s face.

Maurice: “You mean… you… haven’t already taken care of that??? But it’s… it’s been MONTHS!” He looks genuinely distressed. He expresses that he really would join the group to ensure that this darkness is actually destroyed once and for all, but he does not want to leave Sophia. They thank him for his valiant offer, and of course the entire group understands. But really though…they should hurry.

DAY 1:
They gather supplies and whatnot, Aurelae grabs the group Bag of Holding, and they head North out of Hardholme. They walk North until they hit The Ridge, and then turn East.

They camp. Aurelae sees Wngas, observes them, they’re just examining everything in the camp. She tries throwing an object in their path to trip them up, but as soon as the object makes noise as it hits the ground they disappear. *poof*

DAY 2:
Halfway into the day Aequitus gets a wild hair up his butt and decides that he wants to plant a magic bean. There are only three left after all. And he hasn’t planted one yet. Aurelae says, “Nay, we have more important things to do. Plus, I have the Bag of Holding.” Ulrich and Kamara also chime in about planting a bean, and even Gramarsh voices curiosity.

Aurelae: “Okay FIIIIINNNNEEEE. But I’M planting it.” She plants a magic bean.

A giant straw nest grows out of the ground, with five green and while spotted eggs inside (yes, they look like Yoshi eggs). The guys are quick to each take one, excitedly. Aurelae is definitely hesitant… they have NO IDEA what will hatch from these eggs! What if there is an angry Mama or Papa thing that will hunt them down for… then she realizes that she must take the last egg or else it will hatch all alone… and she can’t allow that. So they put all five eggs into the Bag of Holding… gods have mercy…

They keep walking East along the ridge and make camp. Gramarsh and Kamara see Wngas. Kamara tries to teleport to catch one, but no luck.

DAYS 3 & 4:
The continue marching on. Pretty uneventful aside from Stryder mating calls (which Kamara is oddly very excited about). A light rain falls.

DAY 5:
So there they are, five days travel Northeast of Hardholme, West of the Golden Mountains, skirting The Ridge to avoid Quakesnakes in the plains, and all is peaceful… until it ISN’T. “SQUAAAAAKKKK!”

Not one, but TWO wild Octobirds appear in the distance and start flying towards them!

The group wastes no time and make battle formation quickly. The Octobirds have the advantage, but thankfully are about 100 feet away…this turn.

Aequitus wastes no time and blasted them with a twinned Scorching Ray towards the Octobirds for 43 damage between the two of them. The Octobirds are slightly singed but do not falter in their rush to peck out the eyes of their enemies and eat their slaughtered corpses.

Aurelae shoots not one, but TWO arrows straight into the right Octobird for a total of 33 damage.

Kamara runs to the left, focuses on the Octobird on the right and Mind Whips the crap outta that Octobird! In addition to 9 damage, the right Octobird is confused, doubts its life’s purpose, and slows down in its charge forward.

Gramarsh, having no ranged attack, runs forward towards the enemy and braces, Orcishly.

Ulrich also runs forward 30 feet and… dodges… something… we’re not sure what… maybe… we’ll see…

Aequitus – FIREBLAST!!! Another 45 total damage to both Octobirds!

Aurelae shoots her arrow fast and true and kills the right Octobird D-E-D dead. The left one takes 7 damage too.

Kamara hits the remaining Octobird with a psychic attack and it RUNS AWAY…

Aequitus is Aequitus and of course immediately prestidigitates the fallen Octobird corpse and into the Bag of Holding goes the head, talons, and a few tentacles.

They continue along the ridge, eventually make camp, and take a long rest.

DAY 6:
MOAR WALKING.

DAY 7:
About halfway into the 7th day they hit the forest/mountain border and… there are… NO CANAR. NONE. No adorable half-dog, half-humans, no annoying/slightly creepy mimicking, just SILENCE.

They awkwardly build camp and it is eerily quiet. No insects, no Canar, not even any Wngas make noise in the dead quiet night.

DAY 8:
Morning comes and at first light Aurelae climbs a tree and can see the mountain with the temple in the distance and just the tip of the pyramid in front of it.

EVERYTHING high up is enveloped in a weird mist, and EVERYTHING on the ground (and climbing upwards…) is covered in a black, slimy, pulsating grime… it is spilling out from and over the mountain, and climbing up the pyramid…

Aurelae climbs back down and tells the others what her elf eyes have seen.

Aequitus: “Sooo… we… burn it with fire? Yes?”

At this moment, nine Canar appear from the forest… they are mutated, warped, some with one eye too large and bulging, others with boils covering large swaths of their small bodies, or misshapen limbs crippling their gait… charging, running forward… and completely mad.

Again, Aequitus sees a threat and wastes no time attacking. He throws a MASSIVE fireball at the lot of them for a gargantuan 266 damage!!! YES. TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX. Everything in the 20-foot circle of fireball damage is smoldering, including the sludge and slime covered ground, trees, and of course the mutated Canar.

Aurelae looses two arrows and hits two Canar for 17 + 16 damage, and one of them drops.

One of the Canar’s eyes glow, and Ulrich and Aurelae begin chanting together, “WE MUST LEAVE. WE MUST LEAVE.”

Their actions don’t change, and actually they look, at first, confused, and then annoyed, but they continue chanting nonetheless. “WE MUST LEAVE.”

Another Canar shoots two arrows at Aequitus and hits him hard with 26 damage. At least he was able to shrug off the poison

Kamara Ego Whips another mutated Canar and it runs away in fear.

Aurelae snaps out of the chanting trance. Ulrich changes his chant: “IF WE LEAVE NOW, WE’LL MAKE IT HOME ALIVE. IF WE LEAVE NOW…”

Gramarsh runs up to the three Canar that remain and SMASHES into the one on the left – BOOM DEAD CANAR.

Ulrich runs forward – still chanting about how they should leave – with a trident in one hand and a sword in the other and strikes the left Canar for 10 damage.

The other two Canar then rear up on their hind legs and start to GROW until they’re about the size of an Orc. Both go straight for Ulrich…

The mutated Canar deal 40 damage to Ulrich, and he is knocked unconscious (-7 HP) AND he’s poisoned… things are not looking good for Hardholme’s most bruised hero.

At this point Aequitus knows he could likely take the remaining seven mutated Canar out with a single fireball…but… Gramarsh and the unconscious Ulrich are too close to the enemy and would get caught in the crossfire.

He quickly exchanges some words with Aurelae and Kamara, and before they can argue much against it they hear Gramarsh yell, “DO IT!!!”

Realizing that none of them were likely to make it out alive if he didn’t act quickly, Aequitus took what very well may be Gramarsh’s last words seriously and let loose another fireball aimed directly at the seven remaining Canar, hitting Ulrich and Gramarsh in the process (187 damage total).

Three of the Canar remained standing, despite all the Canar receiving 22 damage each.

Miraculously, Gramarsh somehow dodges the fireball!!! Gramarsh managed to shake off most of the fiery blast, taking only half damage. Ulrich, on the other hand… the unconscious Ulrich took the full 22 damage…and comes precariously close to death (-29 HP).

The fire within the circle intensifies, and the tops of the trees there begin to burn brightly.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Aurelae…for the first time in her entire life… DROPS HER WEAPON. She was aiming for the Canar near Ulrich’s dying body and just… FROZE. She is stunned til the end of her NEXT turn.

The remaining three Canar all turn their attacks towards Aequitus. One shoots arrows, but narrowly misses him. Another attacks him as well, and he takes -19 damage, 7 of which is poison damage.

Aequitus was knocked unconscious. Another round of hits like this and he won’t make it…

Kamara runs up to the fire line and Ego Whips the remaining three Canar with the psychic message of “LEAVE NOW!”

All three Canar are filled with self-doubt and they start chanting in unison, in their creepy little voices, “LEAVE NOW. WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW.”

Gramarsh smashes one of the self-doubting Canar for 16 damage.

Ulrich is laying crumpled on the ground, fire burning everything around him, his lifeless body… clinging onto the whispers of life… for now.

FINALLY Aurelae snaps out of it, reaches down and picks up her bow, and shoots the Canar by Gramarsh for 12 damage, killing it on the spot. She also shoots the other Canar for 22 damage, and it isn’t looking good.

Gramarsh deals a critical hit to the remaining Canar that was standing near Ulrich and it goes down! As the Canar falls, he releases his shield and it falls ON ULRICH… protecting him though, not falling on him and doing damage, thankfully. (Because that actually would have killed him lmao).

They stabilize the wounded, and re-conscious the unconscious. The fire is slowly gaining strength and burning through the black, sludge-like Creep.

Once recovered a bit, Aequitus grabs two of the dead Canar (prestidigitating them, of course) and the head of a third Canar, and throws them into the Bag of Holding.

The group, thankful to be alive, heads South, away from the forest edge, and they take a short rest.

After a short rest, they can see that Aequitus’ fire is slowly but steadily burning through The Creep and they discuss what to do next. They didn’t actually think they would successfully burn The Creep this quickly, especially without entering the Temple or the Pyramid. Aequitus suggests walking South, along the Golden Mountains to see if that tip Aurelae got from Wendell was any good about finding the missing 70th. Aurelae is, of course, ecstatic at this prospect. The others agree, and they head South until nightfall, and camp on the 8th night where the hills, mountain, and forest all meet.

They camp out on a hanging cliff at the edge of the plains. Camp is peaceful, regular nighttime noises have returned, and everyone spots Wngas on their watch, but of course no one catches any.

DAY 9:
As they’re walking along the ground at the base of the mountains (where the plains meet the mountains…) and all is well…until the ground starts to shake in a very familiar way.

Aurelae wastes NO time and immediately breaks out her climbing gear, walks up the cliff face, hammers in a line, and helps the only one there who hasn’t encountered a Quakesnake yet – Gramarsh – climb up the side of the cliff and away from the Quakesnake she knows is coming.

Aurelae: “NOOO, NOOOOPE, NOPE, UH-UH. NO WAY.” *curses under her breath in Dwarvish*

The others, who now know to always bring their climbing gear with them when adventuring, follow suit.

Once they’re all safely up high enough, and the ground shaking quiets down, Aequitus tests a theory and releases a Thunderclap out into the plains in the direction the shaking was coming from. Sure enough, about 300 feet away a Quakesnake pops up from the plains, almost gracefully, if that’s possible, and arcs like a whale leaping in the ocean.

Aequitus: “Well now that’s useful.”

Once Aequitus determines that the Quakesnake is sufficiently far enough away, they make their way back down so that they can walk closely against the cliff wall and are ready to climb back up at a moment’s notice. Well, everyone except Aurelae. She is having none of that, and walks comfortably along the cliff wall, her body perpendicular to the ground.

They continue on this way for the next three days (DAYS 9-11) with few complications. Aequitus’ “Quakesnake Finder” really works well! At night Aurelae fashions hammocks anchored to the cliff walls so they can sleep without fear of being eaten alive and swallowed whole in the night. They still keep watch, of course. There are a few scary instances of periodic tremors, but they make it through.

DAY 12:
After walking South for days with no sign of the 70th or their mining camp things are not looking up. They know they are nearly to the Edge of the World. But then… in the distance… what is it that Aurelae’s elf eyes see??? A GIANT ORANGE FLAG! Right there, just where Wendell said it would be! A giant orange flag sticking right out of the cliff wall!

* Aurelae’s speed intensifies*

As she gets closer she can see there is a structure built into the side of the cliff. If you weren’t looking for it (or if there wasn’t a giant orange flag waving next to it) you’d never even see it.

Aurelae gets to the entrance of the cave, looks back at the others to make sure they’re not too far behind, and hears raucous laughter and voices – multiple voices! But one voice stands out above the rest to Aurelae – IT’S GRANDL’S VOICE!!!

Aurelae doesn’t even hesitate, she just walks right into the cave and sure enough, there’s Grandl, sitting with six others around a campfire, talking and laughing and eating food.

As she walks up the voices die down one by one as they all realize that a stranger just walked into their cave in the middle of nowhere at the edge of the world up on a cliff face.

Aurelae: “Oy! YOU THERE. GRANDL! I cross the damn void to find you and when I get here it takes me another year to find you cause you went off without even waiting to see if I made it with the next Arrivals? Then I had to chase ya down across the whole of Kazzaran’s Valley! *she grins from ear to ear* I missed you dammit!”

Grandl: *blinks slowly as the reality of the situation sinks in* Aur…Aurelae??? Is it really you?! I – wha—how? COME HERE LASS!” He makes loud, inaudible sounds of dwarf happiness as he leaps past the fire and runs up to sweep her up in a joyous hug.

The others come in at this point and there is much to talk about and discuss – how did Grandl’s group find this place, how successful have they been, how did Aurelae win an Arrival spot, how the journey was, and of course just how much has changed in the last year since the 71st arrived in Hardholme. Grandl and the others are surprised, but not unpleasantly at the news of the fall of Dar and the Prime opening up to non-prime Arrival years, Vera and Veranium, the Hyla (Red and Blue), and everything else that happened in “Season 1”. They spend the rest of the evening talking and catching up.

There are 6 others there along with Grandl – 3 dwarves, 1 Orc named Sarat, and 2 humans.

Gramarsh and Sarat hit things off instantly. Aequitus says that Gramarsh can borrow the Octobird head if he wants to impress her. Gramarsh thinks this is a great idea… Sarat is not impressed lol

They eat Quakesnake Steaks and OMG THEY ARE THE MOST DELICIOUS THING THEY HAVE EVER EATEN. YES, TASTIER THAN DINNERBIRD A.K.A. TASTYBIRD A.K.A. ANGRYBIRD.

More stories are shared. It is a joyous reunion and meeting of friends. Aurelae brought a large jug of ale (in the Bag of Holding) for exactly this occasion and she pulls it out and they drink and talk and drink some more. The 70th haven’t seen ale since they left Hardholme. Everyone is having a great time.

After a while someone asks Grandl if they found anything valuable in the mines here. YES, YES THEY HAVE. Do they want to go see? YES, YES THEY DO. Oh but watch out for the giant leeches/lice that live down in the heart of the mountain… someone was killed just last week to those bastards… but they are weak against fire, yay Aequitus!

Gramarsh makes a comment about how he’d just smash the leeches with his bare hands, and Grandl bros up and asks if he thinks he’s stronger than him and it results in them arm wrestling – it was a close match but GRAMARSH WINS and much laughter and manly congratulations ensue and are Gramarsh and Grandl now best friends??? :D

Into the mines they go! So many twists and turns, and it is pitch black (luckily, they all have dark vision), but without Grandl to lead them they’d never see the light of day again. They walk inwards and downwards for about an hour and a half before they walk out of a narrow tunnel into a large cavern. Grandl lights a torch and they can see a beautiful purple ore running in ribbons up and down the walls. It is truly breathtaking to look at.

Grandl explains “the purple ore” but says that they have no idea if it’s valuable or not, what its properties are, etc. He breaks some off for each of them, and it is surprisingly light, yet feels very strong.

Aurelae names the purple ore “Grandellium” and suggests that perhaps Fitz and/or Vera can deduce the properties of and value of Grandellium. Everyone agrees that it is going to have some value, if for no other reason than that no one in Hardholme has ever seen anything like it, as far as they know.

They make their way back up to the cave and sleep well.

DAY 13:
In the morning they discuss who, if anyone, of the 70th should go back to Hardholme with the 71st. As much as Grandl would like to go, it’s better if he stays here for now, as this entire camp and mining outpost – and everyone here – is his responsibility. So they agree that Sarat of the 70th will accompany the 71st back to Hardholme to establish a trade route with their mining outpost.

They make the return journey home safely, walking along the very edge of the world in the 30-foot-ish strip of land there that it seems the Quakesnakes can’t – or won’t – go.