PCs:
Korin Clubfoot, dwarf, F5
Mia the elf, T3/MU2
Norbor the half-orc, F3
Cleon, F3
Xenop, C3
Orbo, C2
Tand, R2
Ausillar the half-elf, R2
Mukaz the half-orc, F1
SESSION RECAP:
The party has just led the militia's forces to an incredible victory. Without losing a simple man, they managed to defeat a band of powerful outlaws and capture most of them, and most importantly their leader, the former member of Verbobonc's militia Jeribolt. Now however they prepare for even greater glory, for if they manage to defeat the gnolls that raided Hommlet, Korin will become lord of Humming's End and the party will have a whole village under its command.
They thought about visiting first the former lair of the elven bandits that the sage had informed them about. Their henchmen were training so they had some time to kill. However they decided not to risk anything before the great battle and just waited for their men to complete their training.
One of the first problems that they had to solve was the fact that they didn't know where the gnolls had their lair. Jeribolt gave to the authorities some intel that he got, however he only knew the approximate location, based on where his patrols usually encountered gnolls. The area that he pointed out unfortunately was almost 30x30 miles, so the party should have a lot of investigating to do.
After putting some thought, they decide to not head directly towards the area of the gnolls' lair but to visit first Hommlet. In there, they would be able to talk to the locals, with whom Korin has a great relationship with, and get as many informations as they can about the gnolls and what they did to the village. During their travel they had to make another important decision about the route that they would follow. Would they pass close to Nulb, so that they will be spotted leading a battalion of 100 men or will they avoid it, heading towards Hommlet without being seen by them?
The red line is the road they
would take to head straight to the
gnolls, the blue on is the road
to Hommlet avoiding Nulb and
the black one is the road they would
take if they wanted to be seen by Nulb
They decided to avoid passing through Nulb and so, they started their journey, taking with them their henchmen and the 80 men of Verbobonc's soldiers. On their way they encountered a huge creature that passed through their ranks without attacking them. Besides that nothing else happened and after 5 days of travel they reach Hommlet.
In there, they meet all the important villagers, asking for any information that could be useful, explaining to them that they were sent by Verbobonc to destroy the gnolls. The leaders of Hommlet, Rufus and Burne, inform them that they were attacked by more than 100 gnolls and a big fight took place. They had loses and many buildings were destroyed, but they pushed them away and forced them to retreat. Most of the village was enraged by what happened and they are willing to help any way they can. The fact that many beloved villagers were killed, made Hommlet wanting revenge.
Most of them are willing to take up arms and join the party. One of them in particular, the druid known as Jaroo, wants to help any way he can. The party informs them that they don't know yet where the gnolls' lair is exactly and Jaroo volunteers to use his shapeshifting skills to scout the area where they believe that the evil creatures are living. He transforms into a hawk and leaves to find out where they are.
A day later, Jaroo is back. He flew very carefully in the area that the party showed and after some investigation he managed to scout a few gnolls keeping watch in a hill. He flew a little closer and he spotted the entrance of a cave nearby, where he also saw some gnolls coming out of. After that he infiltrated the lair as a rat to scout the lair. He points exactly where in the map, draws a sketch of the inside of the lair and the party now begins strategising.
After a lot of thinking, they decide not to make an all out attack yet. Instead, they agree to send Jaroo and Mia in the lair, infiltrate it and gather as much information as they can, so that they know exactly what they are dealing with. Jaroo agrees to lend his ring of invisibility to Mia for this mission and he is also willing to cast Pass with trace to her, so that noone could be able to see or listen to Mia. He would also take the form of a rat when they approach the area and like that, both of them will enter their cave and find out as many things as possible.
The gnolls' lair area
They travel together with Mia's horse, not wanting Jaroo to waste one of his three transformations yet. When they get close to the lair, Mia puts on the ring, Jaroo casts her Pass Without Trace and transforms into a mouse. He leads the way and very carefully they infiltrate the lair of the gnolls. Inside, they will see more than one hundred of them. Soon enough they will find themselves outside the chieftain's room and when a gnoll visits him they will enter as well.
They waited in his room and when he was left alone, Jaroo took on his human form and casted Charm Person on him. He couldn't resist the powerful magic of the druid and as a result he saw him as a trusted friend. Jaroo told the chieftain that after the assault on Hommlet, most of its guards have left and went to Verbobonc to train and as a result the village was now unprotected. It was the perfect time to strike for the gnolls according to this and the only thing that Jaroo asks for return is to become the mayor of the village once the gnolls take control of it. He advises the chieftain however not to reveal their partnership to the rest of the gnolls as they wouldn't trust him so easily since they didn't know him as well as the chieftain does. He turns back into a mouse then and Jaroo and Mia listen to the chieftain enthousiastically calling everyone to arms, announcing that the time for glory has arrived!
The duo leaves the cave and Mia writes two letters, one for the party and one for the village, informing both of them that the gnolls are marching towards them, unaware that the village was strengthened by the party and its small army. He ties them in Jaroo who now took the form of a hawk and had him fly back to Hommlet and to the party's camp.
In the meantime, Mia was spying invisibly to the gnolls' preparations. However, she soon realised that she wasn't the only one doing so. Two nagas were also spying on the gnolls and ambushed them. Despiting getting killed eventually, they managed to kill around 30 gnolls because they surprised them.
Although they had some loses, the gnolls didn't lose spirit and with more than 80 of them they marched towards the (supposed) defenceless village. However, way before they manage to approach Hommlet, Jaroo has returned and informed everyone of the coming attack. So, in a hill nearby Hommlet, the party, the Verbobonc's soldiers and most of the villagers laid their ambush.
The party ambushing the gnolls
Jaroo then returns back to Mia while the rest of the party awaits the gnolls. When they appeared before them, they surprised and attacked them. The gnolls, despite being surprised and having a numerical disadvantage, they managed to inflict heavy casualties, with more than 20 soldiers being killed. However, they were slaughtered and the village of Hommlet took its revenge, letting noone escape.
In the meantime, Jaroo reunited with Mia and together they infiltrated the gnolls' base and killed the 20 monsters that stayed behind to guard it. After that, the party alongside its army, headed to the gnolls' lair and looted everything they got. They returned back to Hommlet that now is safe from the threat of the gnolls!
LOOT AND KILLS:
Loot:
2000 ep
600 gp
3000 sp
Kills:
96 gnolls
DECEASED PLAYER CHARACTERS:
Urikas the elf, F1/MU1, Readying 25, 576 CY, eaten by ghouls
Zyla the elf, C1, Readying 25, 576 CY, eaten by ghouls
Jack, F1, Readying 28, 576 CY, slain by the evil cleric named Lareth
Causticas the elf, F3/MU3, Goodmonth 14, 576 CY, burned alive by a red dragon
Yus, C1, Brewfest 6, 576 CY, Poisoned by a purple worm's sting
Trenaccatlo, F1, Ready'reat 27, 576 CY, devoured by a two-headed giant troll
Korin Clubfoot, F5, Flocktime 11, 577 CY, poisoned by giant centipedes / REVIVED
THOUGHTS AFTER THE SESSION:
That was another "what the heck" session, with the party surprising me! I didn't think they would visit Hommlet to gather intel, I thought they would head directly for the hex of the gnolls and have the rangers try to scout them. When they asked for help in Hommlet, I rolled a percentile dice to see the villagers' reaction and rolled a natural 1, which basically means that they were willing to help any way they can, being hungry for revenge against the monsters.
I know that Hommlet has many ultra powerful individuals and I said to myself, ok don't hand them over Rufus and Burne, let's give them the other guys. Elmo and some of the other NPCs had been killed in the party's early adventures, so I hand them over Jaroo. Come on, I thought on myself. He is just a level 7 druid, how overpowered could he be? I saw his list of spells and wasn't too impressed, he could do some useful things but I didn't think he would be a game changer.
Little did I know! With his transforming abilities and his magic items, he and Mia completely bypassed any defence I had planned for the gnolls and with the chieftain losing his saving throw (in a big gamble that Mia's player took there) they persuaded them to make a suicide attack against numerical superior opponents.
If the chieftain succeeded, then Mia and Jaroo would have to face an army of gnolls. Even being invisible could not be enough for Mia to escape as she would have to pass through small corridors full of this filthy beasts.
He didn't however. As a result everything went as planned. Even more so, the random encounter had some naga guardians appear who decided to attack the gnolls and reduce their number even more!
During the battle however, despite once more the party's preparations made it look one sided, the gnolls put up a good fight and with a few lucky rolls they made it look as if they had a chance. Their loses however made them lost morale, they tried to escape and in the end they paid for their crimes with their lives! Job well done once more for the party!
In this session, by handing them over Jaroo, they took a small taste of High Level ADnD. I had playtested in Prince's of Nothing Slyth Hive module and I have seen what high level ADnD characters are capable of, but we didn't have a druid there. Besides I couldn't imagine that they have so many strong features in just level 7! Wow! The party was amazed by his strength and can't wait to gain a few extra levels as well!
By the way, this was the one year anniversary of the game. One year before this session we started the campaign and it's only fitting that in this session they came back to Hommlet, where everything started! However, now they were leading an army, saving Hommlet from a band of monsters! They sure went a long way from being just a group of ambitious adventurers! Next stop: Humming's End!
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