Wallacian Campaign Session #35

Our bold adventurers, Etu, Crow, and Zoi, picked up a job notice at the Sword Hall in Westport. It was a request from the village of Wilken's Mill, far to the south, putting a bounty on a monster which recently begun plaguing the area around the village.   When they pulled the notice off the job board, one of the Sword Hall employees warned the party that another group, known as the Storm Crows, had already stated their intention to fulfill this contract. However, the Storm Crows had been delayed working on another job first. Crow told the others that he had heard of the Storm Crows before, and they had a reputation for being unscrupulous.   After walking for several days, the party arrived at Wilken's Mill. The village leader, Dame Wilkendal, was expecting the Storm Crows, and asked the party to prove that they had the skills necessary to defeat the monster. After demonstrating their abilities, Dame Wilkendal agreed to let them try to slay the beast. She even gave them each a Healing Potion, to aid them on their quest.    The demonstration attracted a number of villagers, who then began relaying descriptions of their encounter with the monster. From this, the party deduced that it was probably an owlbear, a creature created by a mad druid in the nearby prinicpality of Phandalstadt (updated version of that article still in progress).   However, one of the bystanders, a man named Bill Jenkins, claimed the monster was instead a krasis. A krasis is a large, blind, froglike beast that uses echolocation to hunt its prey. Bill insisted that he spotted a krasis while he was fishing, and only escaped because the monster ate a nearby moose, allowing him to run away. Several of the other villagers insisted that Bill was proably drunk.   Since it was late in the day, the party decided to stay at the local Boarshead Inn. While relaxing in the common room, they were accosted by an angry halfing named Gruff. Gruff said that he was with the Storm Crows, and accused the party of stealing their contract. As the discussion began to grow heated, a tall woman in black leather armor told Gruff to let the matter drop. She said that the party would probably be killed by the owlbear; she said they could sweep in later and possibly catch the owlbear while it was wounded. The pair then disappeared into the night.   The next morning the party set out, following the directions of the eyewitnesses. Etu eventually picked up the trail of the owlbear, and they tracked it to the area of a recent landslide. A tall tree had been uprooted by the slide, and the dislodged earth and stones revealed that appeared to be the entrance of an artificial tunnel. The owlbear apparently had made this opening its lair.   After a fierce battle, the party was able to slay the beast, though some of them were injured in the process. As they caught their breath, and prepared to skin the owlbear, they heard slow clapping nearby. Gruff had apppeared; he congratulated the party on their success, and told them to depart. He said that he and his comrades would take the owbear skin back to town, and collect the reward. The party refused, and Gruff, Buff, and Shadow attacked!   During the fight, Crow and Shadow had a couple of spell-duels. During one of the duels, they were so evenly matched in their arcane arts that they initiated a Wild Magic feedback. Several of the combatants were pulled towards Crow, while a large explosion of arcane energy was centered on Shadow.   After Gruff and Buff fell, Shadow attempted to flee, but the party was able to track him down and kill him. While searching the bodies, Crow discovered a small amulet in a hidden pocket inside Shadow's armor. It was a silver hand grasping a red orb. Crow put the amulet (wrapped in a piece of cloth) into his pack. [NOTE: I forgot to write down how much gold you got from the Storm Crow bodies. Unless you have it in your notes, let's call it 2 gold pieces each.]   The party was quite spent at the point, so they took a short rest before heading back to town with their prize. On their back to the village, Etu's affinity to swampy terrain allowed him to spot a Krasis just before it attacked, preventing the party from being surprised. The krasis was able to swallow Crow at one point, but his comrades did enough damge to cause the krasis to spit Crow out. A number of young krasis accompanied the adult, but they did not seem to be much of a threat individually. However, as the fight wore on, an increasing number of younglings were drawn by the sound of the battle.   The party eventually defeated the adult krasis, causing the young ones to begin fleeing. Etu ran around and killed as many of the younglings as he could, collecting their legs. The party then returned to Wilken's Mill.   When they arrived at the village, the locals were happy to hear the owlbear was dead. Bill Junkins was elated to be vindicated by the party's report of the krasis. The party did not mention their fatal encounter with members of the Storm Crows. The tall woman who was with the Storm Crows at the inn earlier was not seen in the village.   The next session will pick up shortly after the party returned to the village.   Note: For players of the previous D&D sessions, this DC20 session happened about a year after the battle of Phandalin. The former province of Phandalin & Thundertree is now the principality of Phandalstadt in the Kingdom of Wallacia. The principality is ruled by princess Almalexia.