Wilderlands: Session 8

 

This is part of an ongoing campaign. You can find the other sessions over on the sidebar.

This session was run on June 13, 2022.

 

 

4 Sweetrain 4433

 

 

 

 

 

The session picked up where we left off last time. The party was exploring the home of Coszari (hex 2011), the hill giantess, who they hoped to convince to help them protect the village of Filmoth from goblin raiders. While they had reason to doubt the villagers' claim that the she had promised to protect them from raids, they hoped they could persuade her that the goblins were eating "her goats" so it would be in her best interest to help them. They arrived at the cave to find it under attack by giant ants that Stranger suspected were somehow connected to a druid. They fought there way through the chambers and had just rolled for initiative at the close of Session 7. 

 

Faced with more ants, a druid, and the sounds of an angry giant, Ser Duycken charged into battle immediately. For the first time in his career, his initial charge connected and he killed one of the giant ants in one blow. The druid responded by summoning a swarm of centipedes that began crawling all over his war turkey. He noticed that the druid had a strange green gem embedded in his forehead.

Stranger called out to the unknown druid in their secret language and introduced himself. He assured the druid that they did not intend to harm him or the giant and that they were there on legitimate business for the village of Filmoth. The druid introduced himself as Gorman and informed them that he also did not want to kill Cozsari. He explained that he and the giantess came to an understanding about a year ago where she would no longer prey on the animals around the grove. In exchange for him ceasing his efforts to drive her away, she had agreed to only eat domesticated animals and to help him keep unwanted visitors away from the grove. 

About a week ago, Gorman asked her to drive away two paladins of Mitra that were roaming the area. The paladins had been slaughtering fey in the area. Mitra, and extremely lawful god, has little patience for the chaotic nature of the fey. Gorman did not know why the paladins were in the area, they seemed to be looking for something, but he wanted them gone before the fey retaliated by attacking other nearby human settlements. Gorman wanted to avoid any direct confrontation with the good-aligned paladins, so he asked Cozsari to drive them off.

Cozsari refused to threaten the paladins after she laid eyes on them though. She explained that one of them had the most beautiful, flowing blonde hair, and that she would do nothing to hurt him or make him leave. Gorman came to her cave, entangled her, and was threatening her with his bear companion in order to convince her to fulfill her promise. 

The party managed to strike a deal with Gorman and the giantess where Cozsari would help them with the White Worm tribe and Ser Duycken would talk to the paladins and convince them to move on. Gorman went to try to keep the fey courts from reacting while the party and Cozsari headed north to deal with the goblins. Cozsari was happy to help with the goblins because the White Worm tribe stuck her with pointy sticks after she ate the chief's son in front of him.

The party rested for the night.

 

Subhex Map

 

5 Sweetrain 4433

As the party slipped away in the morning, Uggmar stayed behind to loot Cozsari's lair. He took several hundred gold, a nice fur coat, a decorative egg, a scroll of sleep, and a Cloak of Charisma +2. In the process of identifying these items, the party also tested the ring they found in the dire bear's den and discovered that it was a Ring of the Ram. Stranger also used his Animal Friendship spell to get a wold companion, Argus. 

As they moved through the forested slopes, Stranger heard a noise coming from about 100 yards up the hill. They were moving through thick coniferous forest, so visibility was very limited. He could make out several voices speaking in common. They seemed to be arguing over a poorly packed tent. 

After the others forced Cozsari to lay down and covered her with brush, Stranger tried to sneak up the hill to spy on them. His robes got caught on some thorns, shaking a branch, and causing pine cones to fall noisily on his head. The voices cut off. Stranger decided to continue up the hill and found a human female, two human males, and a dwarf male crouched behind some buches. They were armed and armored, but not richly so. 

While the introductions were initially tense, it was quickly obvious that neither party meant the other harm. The other group was lost and looking for Filmoth village. They were also concerned about the state of their tent. Stranger gave them directions to Filmoth, and assured them that they could reach the village well before nightfall. They parted ways.

The party continued on until they saw a dilapidated manor on top of a hill to the north. They approached it and found a large manor named Stormview. It was stone and two stories. There was a stable and a small cemetery behind the house, and the whole complex was surrounded by a stone wall. While the gate was hanging open, they could see that the front door to the house appeared to be intact. The roof also seemed damaged. They decided to explore.