Campaign Journal: Back to Cobalt

Tardy on this one. Holidays...

That said, it was a slim crew:

• Jax - Barbarian
• Frederick - Thief
• Slick - Another Thief

Starting from Neuforde, the gang headed southwest on a cold and windy day. They made it to the druid stronghold at Kabrel's Tower. The trees in the area continued to be intimidating, and not without a few impaled corpses. 

source

The Dire Wolves, Gagnin and Anzel, found the party and escorted them to the tower, where Thefri and his comrades waited. They reported on their resistance against local Chaos predations, as well as their coordination with the party of cleric Nikhita Mahesh and her colleagues, who had re-taken Ashryn Tower and dug in for the winter. Thefri was safekeeping a damaged lens, and the party would retrieve it on their way back north.

The next day, the gang continued south. The first day of travel along the old trade road was uneventful. Still cold, but less wind. On day two, they heard sounds of a struggle ahead. Slick invisibly scouted ahead, seeing a party circled up against a large two-headed bear-thing.

Time to be heroes, I suppose. Slick and Dukan Dildran (hench) both whiffed hard. Goober got a hit in (of course). The bear-thing struck out, mangling a couple of the pressed party, as well as taking a chunk out of Goober. The fight went back and forth, until Slick was able to regain his footing and take it down with a healthy backstab. 

You think Fulvus will want a two-headed bear trophy for the alehouse? Silly question.

The remainders of the other party introduced themselves as travelers looking to reach Cobalt Lake to join the community there. The party invited them along. The newcomers collected gear from a couple of fallen comrades, and tagged along. 

The party chose not to warn them about the guards at the next tower.

Sure enough, around dusk, as the party approached Hardbrand Tower, a couple of undead knights (one who still had a jaw and mechanism to speak, sorta) popped their heads up and hissed a greeting to the party.

welcoming committee

The party was escorted in, as their tagalongs looked about nervously. The various decapitated mutant heads in trees didn't help. The gang caught up with Sir Gladwin, who confirmed safekeeping of the lenses. 

The party stayed the night. The newcomers did not sleep well.

Off to Cobalt Lake. As they neared the patrol perimeters for the community, they were surprised by a trio of Chaos warriors, scouting the road. One feared Frederick out of the fight. Goober, in turn got ahold of the warrior and bore down, eventually killing him, in spite of taking serious damage. A mutant teleported among the newcomers, killing their mage. Dukan Dildran stabbed him in turn. JAx took down the second knight with a crit.

Proceeding to the checkpoint, the party was recognized by a couple of hobgoblin guards. Who remembered their generosity last time. OK, here's 100gp. The guards sent "Itchy" the goblin ahead to announce the party's arrival to Queen Adra.

The second party said their thanks and quickly departed to join the community.

Adra emerged from her dwelling. The party updated her on their efforts and asked if Goladan, the desert elf, was about. Adra sighed, "I know you're there, Goladan, show yourself." Goladan became visible. The party explained their need for ruby, and that the rumored "ruby sands" may be a helpful component. Goladan shared that the sands were not within his clan's territory, but that he might be able to point them in the right direction. He, himself, could not return to the desert due to his exile, but he outlined a possible pathway to the elves' territories, as well as providing a bit of intelligence on the elves' culture and possible negotiation strategies.

Oh, you might be wondering what happened to Flick, Slick's hench who was left behind as a counsel (e.g. hostage). Don't worry, he assimilated into the community and married a maid named Hilde. He proudly showed off three chitin drake heads he killed, too. He's pretty happy where he is...

Mrs. Flick

DM Notes:

Some good NPC catch-up and status reports. The NPC party happened to be a batch of mooks I'd conjured up through Meatshields as some spare bodies, if needed. The band was a party of six, including a first-level mage named Nekron (actual name, Eugene). Their opponent was a "Chimera" rolled up on the spot from the spell of that name in Gavin Norman's Complete Vivmancer. The party hates it when I giggle and roll a handful of dice.

I enjoyed playing a batch of folks tagging along with the party, and their reactions to the party's nonchalant attitude about mutant and undead horrors.

I was worried that we were going to lose Goober this time around. A found cure potion was immediately applied to the dog. Anyone else can just bleed.

Well, we'll see if a winter trip to the desert is on the travel schedule... Until next time...