The Story so far.
After finding the bodies of the children in the abandoned lair, the heroes returned to Rathe’s Wall in hopes of picking up the trail once again. Kado’s disease required immediate attention and so we found ourselves sidetracked with a new mission.
Journal
The church of Hades was kind enough to give us room and board for the night, as a gesture of kindness. It seems that while we were speaking with Althol, our comrades were trying to arrange a deal to get Kado cured of the death dog’s disease. He promised our services to the church in exchange for his healing. Bishop Nolrig seems a decent enough fellow, and it's nice to have some sort of connection with the town we are in. In addition to the healing he is also giving us a letter of introduction to the town guard. A useful way to place myself in a position where I can do good and continue to hone my skills.
First thing in the morning we headed off on our mission. We must defend the Thorn Estate’s water wheel from bandits who seek to force the owners off their own land. The journey itself is easy, but took the entire day. We arrived as the sun was coming down. Cresting the final hill we could already hear the turning of the wheel. A solemn sight greeted us at the wheel itself. Someone was being buried standing over the fresh grave was an older couple and a fearsome orc. I believe he is a barbarian from the mainland.
We introduced ourselves and state our purpose, the older couple explained that they are the owners of the mill. They were disheartened at how few of us they are, explaining that we are the same number as the group that accompanied Artek, the orc. I explained to them that this time it will be different, telling them that our party are veterans of many battles. With no improvement in their morale they proceeded to show us around the mill.
What a wonder of elven magic! The mill works itself and seems to refill the mortar automatically. I am not even sure what purpose the owners serve aside from monitoring it. I have never seen magic like this in all my days. It is even designed with a feature that changes the noise of the mill at night to improve the quality of rest of those who sleep in the mill. I haven’t had such a peaceful reverie since I left Nausil. Sadly I can not say the same for Thalous, his sleep was tormented by terrifying visions of tentacled beast devouring the mill. Whatever otherworldly being aids him certainly takes its toll. I only hope that with his lack of rest he will still be sharp when the bandits attack.
While I attempted to speak with the orc to try and get more information about the bandits that had been attacking, Thalous was exploring the mill. He found something disturbing in the basement, barrels of blood. I brought it up to Artek hoping to see what he knew, but he continued to ignore my attempts at cooperation. The owner heard my questions and demanded to know what I meant by blood barrels. Running down stairs we saw that Artek had opened all the barrels, in his haste some of the blood had spilled on the floor. Before our eyes we saw the blood start to illuminate some sigils upon the support pillars of the basement. The pillars spoke of an ancient elven legend the First Founders, a group who thought the only way to make the world a better place was to create a united kingdom. We resealed the barrels unsure what would happen if they were emptied onto the floor. Then we examined them finding the symbol of Dohl’shelt’s cult upon them. This whole mission may have been a trap.
Concerned about what the dirt floor might be hiding we begin to clear it away. Beneath it was a stone floor with the same symbol from Thalous’s dream etched upon it. After a heated discussion we decided that we should poor the blood unto the floor and prepare ourselves for whatever evil it might unleash. Our plans were interrupted by our original mission making itself obvious again, a bandit attack. We made short work of them, and a search of the bodies revealed that they were involved with Dohl’shelt as well. Each one was branded with his sigil.
Heading back into the mill we decided to sleep before continuing with our plans for the basement. We made camp at some distance from the mill just in case it was attacked again. Thalous slept in the mill to see if he would gain any more visions. If he did he didn’t share them this time, all he let us know was that he had been branded with the same symbol in the basement. This gives me some hope that the symbol might be connected to him and not evil. We poured the rest of the blood onto the symbol reading the story of the Founders as it revealed itself on the pillars. Far from being altruistic their unified kingdom had themselves as the rulers and all other races as second class citizens. Before we could finish the symbol we were once again attacked, our only warning being the sound of the elderly couple screaming. We made it upstairs just in time to stop the bandits from killing them, and again brought our wrath upon those who would prey on the weak. Same as before a magical brand, but this time the leader carried a contract from Dohl’shelt. He threatened their lives if they failed in their task.
Pouring the last of the blood on the symbol it flashed with a bright light and then turned to obsidian. It seems that we had chosen poorly by pouring out the blood. In that moment we were once again attacked, these poor bandits had no idea that we were now expressing our frustrations on them. Thalous managed to capture one alive, but Dohl’shelt used him as a vessel to give us a warning, and to thank us for doing what he wanted anyway. I am personally going to murder that wizard when I find him…
We returned to Rathe’s Wall the old couple sold their Mill to the Magisterium, and we collected our rewards from the Temple of Hades. All in all it could have gone much worse, but we still have no idea what happened to the mayor’s daughter or where Dohl’shelt is. For now I must sleep and rest, for tomorrow the hunt for the kidnapper begins again.
First thing in the morning we headed off on our mission. We must defend the Thorn Estate’s water wheel from bandits who seek to force the owners off their own land. The journey itself is easy, but took the entire day. We arrived as the sun was coming down. Cresting the final hill we could already hear the turning of the wheel. A solemn sight greeted us at the wheel itself. Someone was being buried standing over the fresh grave was an older couple and a fearsome orc. I believe he is a barbarian from the mainland.
We introduced ourselves and state our purpose, the older couple explained that they are the owners of the mill. They were disheartened at how few of us they are, explaining that we are the same number as the group that accompanied Artek, the orc. I explained to them that this time it will be different, telling them that our party are veterans of many battles. With no improvement in their morale they proceeded to show us around the mill.
What a wonder of elven magic! The mill works itself and seems to refill the mortar automatically. I am not even sure what purpose the owners serve aside from monitoring it. I have never seen magic like this in all my days. It is even designed with a feature that changes the noise of the mill at night to improve the quality of rest of those who sleep in the mill. I haven’t had such a peaceful reverie since I left Nausil. Sadly I can not say the same for Thalous, his sleep was tormented by terrifying visions of tentacled beast devouring the mill. Whatever otherworldly being aids him certainly takes its toll. I only hope that with his lack of rest he will still be sharp when the bandits attack.
While I attempted to speak with the orc to try and get more information about the bandits that had been attacking, Thalous was exploring the mill. He found something disturbing in the basement, barrels of blood. I brought it up to Artek hoping to see what he knew, but he continued to ignore my attempts at cooperation. The owner heard my questions and demanded to know what I meant by blood barrels. Running down stairs we saw that Artek had opened all the barrels, in his haste some of the blood had spilled on the floor. Before our eyes we saw the blood start to illuminate some sigils upon the support pillars of the basement. The pillars spoke of an ancient elven legend the First Founders, a group who thought the only way to make the world a better place was to create a united kingdom. We resealed the barrels unsure what would happen if they were emptied onto the floor. Then we examined them finding the symbol of Dohl’shelt’s cult upon them. This whole mission may have been a trap.
Concerned about what the dirt floor might be hiding we begin to clear it away. Beneath it was a stone floor with the same symbol from Thalous’s dream etched upon it. After a heated discussion we decided that we should poor the blood unto the floor and prepare ourselves for whatever evil it might unleash. Our plans were interrupted by our original mission making itself obvious again, a bandit attack. We made short work of them, and a search of the bodies revealed that they were involved with Dohl’shelt as well. Each one was branded with his sigil.
Heading back into the mill we decided to sleep before continuing with our plans for the basement. We made camp at some distance from the mill just in case it was attacked again. Thalous slept in the mill to see if he would gain any more visions. If he did he didn’t share them this time, all he let us know was that he had been branded with the same symbol in the basement. This gives me some hope that the symbol might be connected to him and not evil. We poured the rest of the blood onto the symbol reading the story of the Founders as it revealed itself on the pillars. Far from being altruistic their unified kingdom had themselves as the rulers and all other races as second class citizens. Before we could finish the symbol we were once again attacked, our only warning being the sound of the elderly couple screaming. We made it upstairs just in time to stop the bandits from killing them, and again brought our wrath upon those who would prey on the weak. Same as before a magical brand, but this time the leader carried a contract from Dohl’shelt. He threatened their lives if they failed in their task.
Pouring the last of the blood on the symbol it flashed with a bright light and then turned to obsidian. It seems that we had chosen poorly by pouring out the blood. In that moment we were once again attacked, these poor bandits had no idea that we were now expressing our frustrations on them. Thalous managed to capture one alive, but Dohl’shelt used him as a vessel to give us a warning, and to thank us for doing what he wanted anyway. I am personally going to murder that wizard when I find him…
We returned to Rathe’s Wall the old couple sold their Mill to the Magisterium, and we collected our rewards from the Temple of Hades. All in all it could have gone much worse, but we still have no idea what happened to the mayor’s daughter or where Dohl’shelt is. For now I must sleep and rest, for tomorrow the hunt for the kidnapper begins again.
Behind the Screen
This session had us doing more battle that what we had seen before, and it pointed out a couple of the major difference from 3.5 to 5e when it comes to combat. Everyone has their place now, and it feels like a cohesive team effort when combat is happening. It is much less likely to see a character bored and wait for their turn, because they need to be aware of what the rest of the party is doing so they can work out their next step.Combat overall moves quickly with the advantage and disadvantage system simplifying the different situations that may come up in a fight. I found myself really missing my 5ft step, and charge actions. Not because they were needed, but because I was used to them. It just means I need to look into different tactics.
A note on spell selection, if you are playing a caster avoid the mistake I made. I didn’t pick any ranged cantrips, and so I had a hard time contributing when the party was closing in on the enemy. I had the choice of either wasting 1st levels spells, or throwing my one dagger. I will say every dagger throw was pretty impressive(I got very lucky), but an acid splash would have been nice.
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