Session 9: We’ve run out of Bulettes
Our tale takes place in the ruined city of Neverwinter, a nexus of brave adventurers hoping to forge their destiny within the crumbled and apocalyptic shell of a once grand city.
Our adventure starts in the Bawdy Boar, a rough and tumble tavern filled with a motley assortment of patrons including Helg Firebeard– it’s purveyor. Our adventures noticed that some new faces found their way to the inn. The Bawdy Boar is known for it’s Shield Wall, a wall within the tavern that serves as a message board filled with potential work for would-be adventurers and cryptic messages between said adventurers.On with the story…
Today’s cast of Neverwinter protagonists include…
- Kaiser Hemlocke: human | ranger4
- Baron Silas Hightower: half orc | fighter5
- Hildegarde Stonewall: dwarven | rogue5
- Malek: human | paladin3
- “Chowder”: human | fighter4
- D’Addario: elf | warlock1
- Stedd of Ma… Mal… Mispellinging it anyway: human | cormyrian dragoon0 (welcome to the game!)
Wyvern Hunt, take two!
With our wyvern hunt cut SHORT last week, I think we had an idea of which mission to do before we even set our eyes upon the shield wall. We met with Captain Kresk again and took the job. Like last week, we were hoping to gain a chance to capitalize on another mission (capture a bandit priest of Talos) that was in the same general area. We also met a new party member, Stedd- former Comyrian Dragoon. A stoic knight that let’s his blade do the majority of the talking. Stedd is strikingly handsome until he takes his helmet off.
Before we left, we decided to talk to a few of the Inn’s patrons. D’Adario had eyes for a young noble lady who attempted to join the party but the majority of us did not want to babysit. We also made sure to pick up some mounts before we left. The party all bought nice riding horses except for Hemlocke who purchased an old nag (insert Sarah Mclachlan music).
We mount our horses and begin our trek south on the Long Road, with Hemlocke’s nag consistently taking the rear.. Along the way we would come upon the bandit hills within a couple days, then we would head due east to the wyvern cliffs.
Merchant Guard Duty
Day one passed uneventfully but on the second day, we took a small side job. As the the morning of day two rolled on, we saw, what looked like, a very large cloud of smoke beyond a hill. We pushed our mounts into a gallop to investigate. As we came closer we found that it was actually a large cloud of dust from a merchant’s caravan.
We ride up to the merchant caravan and are soon met by the caravan’s owner- one Kylem Leskyn of the Seven Suns. He offered to hire us as added protection while the caravan passed through the aptly-named Bandit Hills. After some small negotiations, we agree to see the caravan to the end of the Bandit Hills before we broke away to resume our wyvern hunt.
We also meet dreamboat Caravan Captain Orne. He was in charge of the caravan defenses. He also found some pleasure in making light of Hemlocke’s nag. The friendly banter goes back in forth when a blood-curdling yell could be heard from a caravan member.
The group, shocked, look around and see a member of the caravan clutching at a crude arrow in his chest.
Dog like war cries could be heard all around the camp as lumps of grass rise around the train of wagons. Canine-like shapes could be seen through their makeshift ghillie suits.
“Clever gnolls” the Baron whispers as he draws his trusty starblade.
Encounter with bandit gnolls.
“Protect the Wagons” Captain Orne yells. Stedd rushes into battle while Hildegarde flanks in the shadows.
The gnolls rush in and take the opportunity of surprise on our adventurers and the members of the caravan. Melee ensues with a few caravan members falling to the gnoll’s crude blades. D’Addario sets three gnolls ablaze with a burning hands spell while other party members methodically move through the doggish goblinkind. Barron takes on the gnoll chieftan with help from the paladin duo of Malek and NPC Jerrot (my favorite NPC ever!) while the rest of our heroes dispatch the other gnolls.
Captain Orne, the captain of the cavaran guard, fell to the gnolls but Hemlocke was able to cure him despite the horse teasing. Chowder, covered in gnoll blood, grabbed an opportunity in the chaos and was able to swipe the merchants gold.
“Some of da bloody gnolls made way with some coin” exclaims Chowder. He flashes a smile to D’Addario.
Kylem Leskyn of the Seven Suns, embarrassed by his missing treasure, writes our adventurers an IOU for 700gp and we part ways.
“Da Wyvern, Da Wyvern!”
Caravan protection complete, our adventurers head east toward the wyvern cliffs. After leaving the caravan, we run into Glorian- a boisterous antagonist from our past. He is accompanied by another man and a cart full of wyvern heads. Day two rolls on into high sun when our adventurers spot their first wyvern in the sky.
It is a large creature, similar to a dragon but smaller with no front legs. They are armed with a massive dagger toothed maw, fierce claws, and most deadly of all- a razor sharp poisonous stinger.
It circles overhead, well out of bow range.
Guns Don’t Kill People, but a Bulette sure the fuck will.
Undeterred, our adventurers begin to move Hemlocke’s old nag of a mount into prime view for the wyvern. It is a grim invitation to the flying beast that can yield 10 times the nag’s worth.
We keep our gaze unto the sky, watching the wyvern closely. Looking for more wyverns, we scan the horizon and notice a group of people in the distance. They are waving their arms emphatically and they appear to be camped on a rock.
The ground begins to rumble. And a large shape appears from underground and rips the old nag into pieces.
“Land Shark!” Malek yells.
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” Chowder mutters, while our adventurers attempt to take cover on rocks or in trees.
Hemlocke fires arrows into the beast as Stedd readies his battle-proven steed for a charge. Find courage in Stedd’s charge, the rest of the party rushes in. Fighting continues with the bulette (boo-lay) when the circling wyvern dives in.
The wyvern lands and immediately targets Chowder, who scrambles up a tree. He hacks at the great flying poisionous beast while Hemlocke helps- hurling his throwing axes at the wyvern.
The rest of the party continues their onslaught of the Land Shark and defeats the great beast just in time to see another wyvern land. One wyvern is defeated by Baron, Hildegaude, Stedd, Malek, Jerrot and Hildegaurde while Hemlocke and Chowder continue to fight the other.
The party moves to aid Hemlocke and Chowder when a third wyvern lands. The air was thick with battle cries, ringing steel, and deathly screeches from the wyverns. Seconds seem like agonizing hours but our heroes prove victorious; slaying 3 of the great beast in addition to the bulette.
The sweet smell of victory
Victorious, our party beheads the the wyverns and collects their heads for the bounty.
A few members walk to see the party that was camped on the rock and recognize some familiar faces including Baron’s sidepiece-Threega. The new party’s rogue attempts to enlist the adventurers to sack a giant’s lair but the adventurers will return another day.
We collected a great amount of XP and gold with several party members leveling up. All in all, it was great hunt and our party members retire to some well deserved rest and carousing.
Great job team
and a great first showing by level 0 Stedd- he pumped out some dmg. Also, Chowder’s devious thinking helped us gain an extra 100GP each. Stay unscrupulous my friend.