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Session 24, Taking the Gate

Paldegora 

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Session 24 – 2023-07-08

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==== Summary ====

There was some discussion about how to get around the gate. There seemed to be no way around it. Symon originally suggested that they go back down the hill and find a path around the gate. It was well armed with 8 bugbears, 6 gnolls, and a hobgoblin, that they could see. Without going back down the hill, the next idea was to create a distraction and try to get through the gate or over the gate while they were distracted. That seemed like a bad idea. So they opted for the plan as outlined below. Surprisingly enough, it went pretty well except for a few surprise guests. 

There was a lower wall with ramparts on the north and south ends, about 20 feet off the ground. Between them was a raised area above the actual gate, like a bridge. On the back of each rampart rose a covered tower, about another 10 feet tall. There were doors on them but they were closed. 

Symon made Eryn invisible. She moved to the north side of the south rampart. It took two tries but she climbed it and made it onto the bridge between the ramparts. She took her cloak out of her bag to use as a signal that she had arrived and was ready to begin. She flagged them by holding the cloak over the side below the enemies line of sight and then letting it unroll before dropping it. As she let go of it, the cloak became visible and floated down. 

Seeing this, Cal-El readied a shot while Angelique cast the spell “Hold Person”, targeting the hobgoblin. When she was finished casting, Cal-El fired an arrow onto the roof of the south tower. He was a little off and the arrow glanced off the roof to the side but Eryn saw and heard it. That was her signal that the spell had been cast. She looked at the hobgoblin and the others around him to see if the spell had the desired effect. It did! The hobgoblin leader and the bugbear nearby him were no longer moving. 

Eryn moved on to the next part of the plan and took out one of the kobald bottles of exploding oil. She threw the bottle at a torch hanging off the north side of the south tower. She missed. Maybe Naa was smiling down on her but the bottle hit the wall around the other torch on west side of the tower and exploded as it was entended to do. The bugbear and gnoll nearby were caught in it. Xor, Cal-El, and Cassandra used the distraction to move closer to the northern rampart. With the first explosion, all attention on the gate was focused on the southern rampart. Maybe, had the hobgoblin not been paralyzed, he might have kept people at their post and maintained better control but since there was no one to issue orders, all chaos broke out. 

Eryn added to the display by lobbing another bottle onto the table between all of the occupants of the rampart. It exploded and now all four of them where on fire. The loud screaming kept everyone’s attention that way. The gnoll and a bugbear on the middle section moved to fill a bucket with water and run it down to help their comrades. Xor, Cal-El, and Cassandra all made it to the base of the rampart. Xor prepared to throw the grappling hook but Cal-El stopped him to give the activity above a moment longer to really keep their enemy’s attention. Eryn tried to hamper the fire brigade by lobbing another flask at the torch near the two trying to fill the bucket but it missed and just broke on the ground. After she tossed that, she darted through the crowd to the northern rampart and planted herself prepare to repel anyone attacking her friends as the crested the wall.

Xor threw the grappling hook and climbed the wall. He made it up and onto the rampart. Cassandra came up behind him And also made it onto the rampart beside Xor. Two of the bugbears saw them and moved to engage. A gnoll also moved back onto the rampart but was a little timid and scared. He didn’t approach them. Cal-El made it up to the other side of Xor. Xor and Cassandra engaged the bugbears while Cal-El took on the gnoll.

Seeing the fire begin to die down on the other rampart and wishing to keep people distracted, Eryn move toward it and threw another bottle on the fire. Another explosion erupted and the gnoll and two bugbears died. Eryn ran back to a bugbear that was yelling at the hobgoblin and getting no answer. She backstabbed the bugbear and killed him instantly. After that, she became visible and said, “Hello boys!”. 

The fight was simple art first, just attack and defend yourself. The gnolls on the ground behind the gate saw what was happening and ran into a door on the backside of the gate. The Company seemed to have the upper hand when a door opened in the south tower and out walked 5 hooded figures in brown robes and another larger figure in blood red robes. The five moved the the stairs that led up to the the main section above the gate. The brown robed creatures removed their robes, spread their wings, and leapt into the air gliding into the battle. Three engaged Eryn while two engaged Cal-El. Xor and Cassandra finished there opponents off about that time and moved down to help. 

The four gnolls from the ground climbed out of the door in the middle of the section over the gate, directly behind the bulk of the action. As the fight continued, the draconians started to die. As they did, they turned to stone. If your weapon had not cleared their body, your weapon would become stuck and useless the rest of the battle. That only happened to Xor. 

Symon, upon seeing the robed creatures walk out onto the rampart, moved to the middle of the road to get a better vantage point from which to view them. At first the robed figures did nothing but standby and watch. Once  they dropped their robes and attacked though, he began planning the spells to help his comrades. That’s when the red robed mage attacked him. He hit him with a burning hands spell. It almost did him in but Symon was still standing. Before he could get a spell off of his own, he was hit again by magic missiles. That knocked him unconscious. 

During the whole fight, Angelique was pickling off people with bow shots. She focused on the hobgoblin until the burning hands spell went off and then she turned her attention to the red robed mage. As the rest were making headway, Xor lost his sword to the draconian he had been fighting when it died and his weapon was caught in it. He moved down to the four gnolls to take them on using his old battle ax and he was really really angry. 

When Symon fell, the red robed mage turned his attention to the main battle scene. He cast a spell that produced some sort of cloud of noxious gas over the main group. Many succumbed to it and were forced to stop fighting and try to leave the cloud. Eryn did not seem to be effected by it so she made a dash along the wall and down to the red robed mage that Angelique had already severely beaten down. She delivered the death blow as the casting of spells had to be stopped. She moved back up the to bridge over the gate and pulled out her bow. She and Cassandra fired on the remaining enemy as they were weakened and puking. Angelique finished off the hobgoblin leader. She then moved to Symon and gave him a full potion of extra healing getting him back up and ready to go. 

They finally finished off the remaining creatures and won the day. They divided out the gold, silver, and copper. They searched everyone and found a single note to the hobgoblin from Death Crusher. It read, “Take command of gate! Cooperate with draconian brethren. Grish-ta-nak commands this!”.

As they stood on the gate structure, they could look down into the valley on the other side. They spied a large city, mostly desolate and destroyed. The buildings were mostly burned out. There was a large spire that had fallen over. There was a little village to the west of it that had some activity. It had been damaged but seemed to have undergone some repairs. There were woods north of that and north of the woods was a plateau with a holdfast on it. There was a road leading up to it and behind it stood a tower. The hold was damaged and scorched some but mostly was still in decent shape. On the other side to the river east of the hold was an area, scorched and blackened, burnt to a crisp in some areas. There was a little mountain range north east of that and beyond that were some moors, sparse and rocky. There were few trees in that area.

Angelique and Symon went through the gate and into the door on the back side.

That is where the game ended.

Started the recorder!

==== Detail ====

The basic description of the situation was this. On the ground behind the gate were 4 gnolls that they could see through the gate. The gate looked weak enough that it was felt that Xor could likely take it down by himself. On the first floor or the visible ramparts we two tower shaped ends. On each end was 3 bugbears and one gnoll. Rising behind each of those was a tower with a door that opened onto the rampart. On the middle raised area directly above the gate were two bugbears and a hobgoblin who’ seemed to be in charge. 

The Company Clandestine was just over a rise about 120 to 150 feet away from it. They backed down and began discussing ideas on how to get around the gate. It was impossible to go around the structure on this road. Symon originally suggested that we go back down and see if we can find another path around this. They opted first to discuss ways to go through it. In order to do that, they would need to create a huge distraction. Even with a huge distraction, there would likely be people watching. There was also the possibility of burning the whole thing down. But since they couldn’t see what the flooring up top was made of, they had no way of knowing if it was a wooden floor or stone floors. With the recent snow, there was no guarantee it would even burn. The tower roofs could be burned but they were covered in snow so they would likely be safe from burning as well. They discussed many pother options but rather than go through all of those, lets talk about what they did. 

Eryn prepared her cloak to use as a flag for signaling the rest of the Company when she was on the rampart and when she was ready for her next task. Symon cast invisibility on her and she moved to the north side of the south rampart. Xor tied the rope to the grappling hook in preparation for using it to climbing the wall. Eryn started to climb the wall and slipped. She froze and waited to see if anyone came to see what that noise was all about. No one did. She attempted to climb it again and this time made it to the top. She climbed over the wall and surveyed the situation. Seeing that no one noticed anything and no one was paying attention in that area, she pulled out her cloak and held it against the outside wall facing the Company. She let it unroll and when it had, she let go of it and it became visible as it gently fell. She grabbed one of the kobald exploding oil bottles from her bag and waited for the sign to continue.

Back with the party, they spotted the cloak falling. Angelique began casting her “Hold Person” spell while Cal-El raised his bow to fire the signal arrow. Angelique finished her spell and Cal-El fired the arrow onto the roof of the south tower. It didn’t hit exactly where he wanted it but it glanced off and made enough noise that Eryn saw it and they heard something. She knew now that the spell had been cast and turned to check the hobgoblin to see if it had the desired effect. He and the bugbear next to him froze. The gnoll with them did not. Well, the plan was underway now so Eryn turned and threw the bottle of oil at the torch on the north side of the southern tower. The bottle slipped out of her hand and flew off to the right of it. In what can only be described as a moment when the gods or their dice intervened, the bottle hit the other torch just under where the arrow had impacted the roof and exploded, sending flaming oil down onto a table and onto one of the bugbears and the gnoll. That’s when they started yelling and a flurry of activity stirred up over there.

Xor headed off down the northern side of the road using the brush for cover. Cal-El and Cassandra followed him and moved when he moved and stopped when he stopped. Angelique picked a spot with cover from which to start firing arrows from. Symon moved up to an area with a better vantage point and looked for opportunities to assist. Eryn threw a second bottle into the burning crowd and missed what she aimed at but managed to hit the table encircled by all four of the enemy on that rampart. Since the table was on fire, it immediately exploded impacting all four of them. She turned and started moving across the rampart quietly.

Xor moved further down the bushed toward the northern rampart, using the trees and bushes for cover reaching the wall. Cal-El and Cassandra moved to the wall right behind him. As Xor prepared to throw the grapple, Cal-El grabbed his hand and indicated for him to wait. He wanted to be sure the people up there were fully engaged with the happenings at the other end of the structure. The three bugbears and the gnoll on the south rampart were struggling while yelling as they tried to put themselves out. The bugbear on the middle section grabbed a bucket and headed to the water barrel. The gnoll in the middle section began moving toward the fire slowly. The bugbears and gnoll on the other tower move a little closer to the middle section and seemed completely engrossed in the action. Another bugbear started trying to talk to the hobgoblin and was baffled by his lack of action. Cal-El indicated that he thought that Xor should throw the grappling hook now. He did that and hooked it well up top. It clanked but everyone seemed to be busy with the action on the other side to notice. The gnolls behind the gate moved back away from the structure trying to get a better angle from which to see what was happening up top.

Angelique kept her bow notched and ready to fire on anyone moving toward the grappling hook. Eryn moved to the center of the structure and threw another bottle at the torch near the water barrel hoping to ignite it. She missed again and it didn’t ignite. She had already begun to move across the rest of the structure, between the gnoll, bugbear, and hobgoblin, to the other side to prepare to lend cover to Xor and the rest as they breached the wall. Xor did breach the wall and got onto the wall of the rampart. Cassandra climbed up right behind him and also made it to the edge. Cal-El started up as well and made it up just below her. He was admiring Cassandra’s fine butt. The two bugbears on the other side of the rampart turned to engage Xor and Cassandra as they crest the wall. Angelique fired on one of them from the trees and hit him. The gnoll that was with the bugbears was a little timid. He turned to move back across the rampart toward the breachers but hesitantly moved to one side and waited rather than engage. The other gnoll on the middle section moved down to help with the creatures on fire. They were still taking fire damage at the other end of the structure. The gnolls below started running back toward the tower. Angelique fired again and missed this time.

Eryn moved to the middle of the structure and threw another bottle onto the table on the south rampart and caused another explosion killing everyone down there but one of the bugbears and the one that came down to help. Another gnoll came down to help. The two bugbears on the north rampart attacked Xor with one hitting and the other missing. Cassandra climbed up beside Xor and attacked the bugbear on the right. She hit it. Cal-El finished making the climb up and came around Xor on his left side and drew out his swords ready to fight. The gnolls on the ground poured into the door at ground level. Xor attacked the bugbear in front of him and hit him. Angelique fired on the hobgoblin and hit him. Xor swung at his again and missed. Angelique fired on the hobgoblin again and missed.

Symon waited for an opportunity to assist from the ground. Eryn moved around behind the bugbear in front of the hobgoblin and backstabbed him. She rolled a natural twenty for 27 points of damage. He died and she became visible again. As she became visible she called out, “Hello gentlemen!”. Cal-El moved over to attack the timid gnoll and cut him down. Cassandra attacked the bugbear on her and missed. Xor attacked his bugbear and missed. Angelique fired on the hobgoblin and missed. Cassandra was hit. Xor was missed. The last bugbear dropped from burning on the other side to the structure. The gnoll and bugbear that were down there to help put out the fires saw the activity at the other end and dropped the buckets they were carrying, drew their weapons and moved to engage. They made it to Eryn but were unable to strike yet. The door of the south tower flew open and out came a couple of hooded and robed figures. The robes were brown. They did’t do anything but look. Angelique fired on the gnoll that approached Eryn and hit it.

Symon moved out to the center of the road, very carefully, so as not to be seen. Cal-El moved to the gnoll on that ran up on Eryn and cut it down. Eryn swung at the bugbear on her and missed. Cassandra tried to hit the one on her and almost broke her weapon. Xor swung at his bugbear and cut it down. Angelique fired on the hobgoblin again and missed. The bugbear hit Cassandra again. The robed figures moved around to the base of the stairs. Three more joined them. A bigger one came out wearing blood red robes. Xor tried to hit the bugbear on Cassandra and missed. Angelique fired on the hobgoblin again and missed.

Debbie failed to have a good initiative roll this time. The robed figures threw off their robes and leaped, unfolding wings, and glided quickly into the fray. Three encircled Eryn and the other two encircled Cal-El. The big red robed one, in the back, turned and cast a spell at Symon. The figure put his fingers together and flames shot out across the distance between he and Symon and struck Symon. Eryn was hit by one Draconian warriors. The other two missed. Cal-El was hit by one of them and the other one missed. Cal-El struck back and missed. Eryn attacked and hit the bugbear. Cassandra attacked the bugbear on her and hit it and killed it. She then ran to the door of the tower to make sure nothing was coming through there. Xor moved over by Eryn and attacked a draconian missing it. Angelique changed her target, after the flame strike that hit Symon, and fired on the draconian mage with a well placed hit. He was still standing though. The bugbear on Eryn hit her. Angelique fired on the draconian mage again and missed.

The draconian mage fired two magic missile bolts at Symon and Symon collapsed. Eryn hit the bugbear. One of the draconian warriors hit her and one hit Xor and the two on Cal-El missed. The center door of the platform opened and the four gnolls from the ground came out behind the draconian’s. They couldn’t get into the area to fight. Cal-El hit one of the two draconians and killed him. The draconian suddenly turned to stone. It was very obvious that a feature of these creatures was that when they died, they turned to stone and possibly trapped the assailants weapon in the stone. Fortunately, Cal-El was fast enough to avoid his weapon being trapped. Cassandra moved from the door to a draconian on Eryn and killed it. She managed to remove her sword before it got caught in it. Xor hit his and killed it. He was not as lucky and lost his sword in the stone figure. Angelique fired on the draconian mage and hit it. Angelique fired her second shot and hit the mage again.

The draconian mage cast a spell toward Xor, Cal-El, Eryn, and Cassandra. Cal-El, Cassandra, and Xor were overwhelmed by a yellow green cloud that made them sick and unable to fight. One of the two remaining draconian warriors were sickened as well. Xor was unable to leave the cloud. Angelique fired on the mage again and hit him. Cal-El was missed. The gnolls surrounding Xor attacked him but all missed, one broke his sword. Then they escaped the cloud. Angelique got her second attack and missed.

Xor, Cal-El, and Cassandra failed their saves and suffered puking damage. Eryn leapt onto the wall and ran along the edge past the gnolls and jumped down racing toward the mage. She reached him and killed him with a critical hit. He crumbled and exploded on death, damaging Eryn. Angelique took another shot on the hobgoblin and took him down. The last bugbear asphyxiated while held in the cloud.  Now down to 4 gnolls, a single draconian warrior, and a bugbear. 

Eryn was hit by the gnoll but missed by bugbear. Xor was unable to shake off the poison and was damaged. Cassandra got out of the gas and made her way to the gnolls and hit one. Eryn hit one and dropped it. Cal-El attacked and killed a draconian and managed not to loose his weapon. He moved out of the cloud then. Angelique moved over to where Symon laid unconscious and fired at one of the gnolls and hit it. She fired a second time and missed.

Xor failed his save again and took more damage from it. Eryn hit the remaining gnoll and killed it. Cassandra fired on the one near Cal-El and hit it. Angelique fired on the gnoll coughing and gagging near Xor and killed it. The Gnoll with the broken sword attacked Xor and actually broke his fangs. He had a very bad day. Angelique fired her second attack on the unlucky one hitting it.

Xor remained poisoned and took a few more points of damage. Angelique dumped a full potion into Symon fully healing him. Eryn and Cassandra fired on the two remaining bugbear and draconian. Cassandra fired on the draconian and killed it while Eryn fired on the bugbear and killed it. The cloud dissipated. All of the statues of draconians suddenly crumbled to dust,. This freed Xor’s sword. Angelique gathered up Eryn’s cloak and she and Symon came through the gate to the gate house in the back to come up through the inside of the structure. None of these creatures had any interesting weapons or items. They found about 450 gold, 30 silver, and 120 copper pieces amongst everyone. Experience for each was 120 for the bugbears, 40 for the gnolls, 150 for the hobgoblin leader, 175 for the bozz draconians, 1,400 for the bozack or mage draconian.

On the hobgoblin, they found a message. It was very abrupt and terse writing which said, “Take command of gate! Cooperate with draconian brethren. Grish-ta-nak commands this!”. It was address by Death Crusher. The patches were present. The color of the blood red robes of the bozack draconian was the same blood red they saw in the symbols for Grish-ta-nak. 

Standing on the wall…

Looking north from the wall, the group saw the hill crest and then looked down into a valley. In the valley were the ruins of a very large city. All the buildings there had been burned out over time. A lot of them looked melted, blackened, or dilapidated. There was a huge spire laying over on the ground. This would be Coldspire. Everything was growing up around it, brambles, weeds, and such. It basically looked like a ghost town. It looked like it had just been sitting there for many many years and it was just rotting away. 

To the west of it, they saw a little village or town. It was damaged as well but it had since been somewhat restored. There was movement and fires with smoke rising. From here, they couldn’t make out what people or creatures were down there, but there was some activity down there. 

Beyond that were some woods that hadn’t seemed to have suffered as much damage. It was thick and mostly made up off fur trees and plants that are hardier in the cold climate. 

Beyond that, to the north west, rose a plateau. There was a road leading up to the top. On top of the plateau, there was a holdfast. It was a pretty good sized structure with a separate tower off the back of it. It showed signs of war damage but not too terribly bad. There were blackened areas and parts of the walls had collapsed. They could make out a little movement and some smoke from fires coming from the structure but it was so far away, they couldn’t make out any details. 

The river flowed from the northwest past the holdfast. There was a little mountain range north east of that. That side of the bank, opposite the holdfast, was kind of burnt to a crisp in a lot of different areas. It looked to have happened very recently. There was some activity on that’s side of the river as well. It was too far away to make out anything specific. 

Beyond that were mountains and then it seemed to go into some moors, sparse and rocky. There was very little in the way of trees. They were scattered here and there.

The river must have been Coldspire River and that meant the city was Coldspire.

We’ll pickup the adventure next week with Symon and Angelique heading into the door of the gate house on the back of the structure.

Start the recorder!

Total Experience for each player earned is 582 + 10% or 640.

Currency divided up as follows. 75 gold pieces, 5 silver pieces, and 20 copper pieces.