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AAR: Down By the River

Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 3:33 am
by BrandenV
Mission: Look for Bog gobs in the area around the town.
Gm: BrandenV(Branden)
Date: 9/24/17
Players:
Krel Tor, Thane Cawdor, Gronk Longtusk, Ibonto
Difficulty and circle rating: Circle 1-2 medium
Player Rewards:
Krel Tor Rewards: 500 LP, 2 booster potions, 200 silver
Thane Cawdor, got 4 booster potions (used 2), 500 LP, 150 Silver
Gronk Longtusk: 500 Legend, 2 booster potions, two boar tusk daggers , one boar hide armor , 174 silver 2 copper
Ibonto LP rewards 500,4 boosters, 50 silver, rank four smithing done
Rolls that were witnessed:
Bought smith rolled 16 forge weapon for ibons weapon to go to +4
Further Information: A potentially friendly bog gob village was found and a bog gob follower of raggok was killed.

Re: AAR: Down By the River

Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 3:47 am
by etherial
From the Court-mandated parole log of Gronk Longtusk:

1 Sollus:
Arrived at Braden's Rest. Chatted with some townsfolk. Met a Troubadour who had elected himself Town Drunk. More people have already moved here in the last week. Maybe we *should* be moving the Buunda Boys out here.

While in the tavern tent, we heard a bloody scream and the two guards were killed by a mob of Bog Gobs. Clearly they were not very good guards. We ran out and Ibon discovered the Bog Gobs were some sort of Undead, making the decision to slaughter them pretty easy.

Unfortunately, while we were fighting them, another Bog Gob made off with Lareth on a riding boar. We were too occupied with our opponents to be able to rescue him, but we managed to dispatch our foes. Ibon succumbed to their damage, however, limiting our ability to rescue Lareth. I brought him back around, fulfilling 1/3 of my debt to Heartscry, but night was falling and we chose not to pursue.

2 Sollus:
We dragged the Troubadour by the scruff of his neck along with us. For someone who claimed that he wanted to discover new villages, meet new people, and earn fame out in the world, he seemed a pretty useless cowardly drunk. We found a Bog Gob that was different from the ones we've been fighting and were able to communicate with it, mostly through pantomime. One of its Tribe had become a Questor of Raggok and begun to raise an army of Bog Zombies. This new Gob took us to its village, whereupon we were furnished with two Bog Gob scouts to take us to the new problem.

We decided to do some advanced scouting that night due to the strong possibility that Lareth would not survive another night. I snuck ahead, discovering that the Questor was torturing Lareth in a ruined tower. Not willing to waste another minute, I tried to summon my allies with my bullseye lantern, but was spotted. The Bog Zombies gave chase, but did not abandon their site, and let me go.

We approached again, breaking into a run when Lareth's screaming reached a new pitch. I attacked the Questor while Thane circled left and Ibon circled right. Krel Tor raised a Life Circle of One, which we lured the Bog Zombies into, allowing us to kill them all. We skinned the boar and I harvested its hide and tusks, feasting on its body for dinner.

Other PCs:
Ibontu, Obsidiman Warrior
Krel Tor, male Troll Nethermancer
Thane Cawdor, male Troll Sky Raider

NPCs:
Lareth, large Human blacksmith, leader
Anfalon, small Human tailor, his wife
Zot, general store owner
Several Bog Gobs, names unintelligible

Re: AAR: Down By the River

Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 4:08 pm
by Rakaneth
As it turns out, I am right. Usually, I like being right, but this is one of those times that I wish I weren't; something very sinister was (is?) brewing near Borgan's Rest.

Following Gronk, I return to Borgan's Rest; I am considering keeping a bone circle here, if the locals are amenable to the idea. I get the feeling that this will be a home away from home. This time, we are joined by Ibontu, a mighty obsidiman Warrior, and Thane Cawdor, a fierce troll Sky Raider.

The locals seem to be doing well. More settlers, some not human, have joined their numbers, and their community seems to have found the peace and harmony it was lacking through the journey here. Borgan's Rest is but a hamlet yet, but the locals all seem to have the singular goal of bettering their small town. It is a heartwarming thing to see.

At first, Lareth is confused by our presence, even after we explain that we are concerned by the bog gob we originally found and dispatched a while ago. He informs us that they have had no trouble with the bog gobs, nor anything else. Just when we were about to go investigate on our own, the town is suddenly beset by bog gobs - undead bog gobs, at that! I curse myself for being ill-prepared to deal with the undead as we rush out to meet them.

Bog gobs are extremely irritating for most fighters to face in melee combat. Their bodies are so sticky that weapons - and flesh - stick to them. What's worse, the creatures know this, and attempt to use this to their advantage! Fortunately, Thane and Ibontu hold the line as long as they can while Gronk and I provide supporting fire. (I think I might have pinched my left arm raw casting Spirit Dart. It's been a few days, and my arm still hurts.) After a long, grueling battle, during which Ibontu was felled (but not slain), we manage to send the bog gobs back to their graves...but not before a bog gob - living and riding a boar - comes crashing through the field, bearing also an unmoving Lareth. Fearing the worst, we make a cursory attempt to save Lareth, but the boar is too swift. As night has fallen and all of us are battered from the battle, we take a night to rest before giving chase.

During that night, we attempt to recruit a Troubadour (who happened to be staying in Borgan's Rest to "grow his legend," according to him) - we have need of his facility with languages. When we find him at first, he cowers beneath a table. (I can only imagine how this legend will begin.) Even after encouragement with drink, he is still unwilling to travel with us to the bog gobs' den. Upon the next morning, after some key preparations, Ibon applies a different method of encouragement - the direct, physical kind, quite literally dragging the poor Troubadour along with us. (It might have been prudent to offer payment, but considering the difficulty of coin to acquire and the great monetary demands of my master, I would not have felt justified in making this recommendation.)

After a lot of walking around in the woods after Gronk (perhaps we should have also hired a tracker), we encounter another bog gob, this one living, and not hostile. With some difficulty, we tell the creature that we're seeking dead bog gobs, and it draws a symbol in the dirt - Raggok! It takes us to its camp to speak with its chieftain. After some more awkward translations later, we learn that some of their number have fallen into darkness, learning vile magic from a follower of Raggok, stealing and killing their kin and enslaving them in death. The prodigal bog gob's name is memorable, but impossible to form on my tongue or with Throalic spelling. (If I were to make an approximation, it would look something like Rrr'thll'gkk.) We are tasked with slaying the errant follower of Raggok, which falls in line with our own goals since that selfsame creature has taken the headman of Borgan's Rest. The chieftain sends two of his scouts (who, unlike Gronk, know the way to the creature's lair) and, after some debate, we decide to make our way to their den, but determine the time of our attack (since we will arrive in the dark of night) once we arrive by sending Gronk in to scout.

It is not long after we arrive that Gronk signals us to attack. Screams pierce the night, and I fear the worst for our smith. We engage the creatures - three more undead bog gobs, their leader, and its boar - but we are much better prepared. The warriors are prudent, having cut down shillelaghs to beat the bog gobs without worrying about getting weapons stuck. I prepare the Life Circle of One to hold back the undead. All seems to be going well until that damnable boar begins charging back and forth, tearing into our split lines. Ibon gets one of the undead attached to him after crushing the leader (who had received wounds already from Thane and Gronk) dragging him to my Circle to free himself. Thane distracts the other two bog gobs while the Circle - and Spirit Darts - grind down the undead Ibon brought home with him. The boar gores me hard during one of its charges, leaving me with an ugly gash in my side that has since scarred over. Thane brings his pair of undead to the Circle, but one breaches the Circle, apparently better-made than the rest. Finally, Ibon strikes down the boar, crushing its head with his mace. With the living threats taken care of, it is simple tedium to cut down the remaining undead.

Collecting Lareth, tortured nearly to death, we make our way first to the bog gob village (notably sans Troubadour; I hope he returned to town safely) to inform them of the success of our mission, and then to Borgan's Rest to deliver Lareth. Thankfully, he survived the experience, and in his gratitude, did some smithing for our warriors.

Re: AAR: Down By the River

Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 4:43 pm
by ChrisDDickey
From the journal of Thane Cawdor, troll Sky Raider.

I am starting a new journal, since my previous journal accidentally fell into the campfire and was destroyed.

Gronk longtust, Kel Tor, Ibonto, and myself rode down from Throal to Braden's rest.

It is a brand new village founded just a few weeks ago. It is amazing to see the energy and industry on display there. Coming as we did from the Halls of Throal which have remained almost unchanging for centuries, it is strange to see name-givers of several races all working together to build a new place. My companions exclaimed at how much the place had changed in only the last 2 weeks. They have already completed a stockade fence, but as yet no gates. They are starting to put up permanent buildings.

We had come down because Gronk had heard rumors that the villagers were having troubles with Bog Gobs. At first it seemed as if we were on a fool's errand, as each settler that we spoke to assured us that there were no serious problems. We had just retired to the tent that served as a tavern to drown our disappointment at a wasted trip in a pint or two, when we heard a commotion. It seems that the rumors Gronk had heard must have been seeded by the passions themselves, because out of nowhere, mere minutes after we arrived, the new village was raided!

We rushed towards the eastern gates (or at least the holes in the stockade at the eastern end) in time to see 6 Bog Gobs overwhelm the two young men who had been guarding those openings. Kel Tor shouted out that these were not "normal Bog Gobs" (if such a thing as a normal Bog Gob is not a contradiction in terms), but where undead of some sort!

Ibonto and myself quickly took up station between two trees, blocking the muddy path that served the nascent village as a main road. Gronk and Kel Tor stood behind and to ether side, sniping and casting spells upon the ones on the flanks. Fighting Bog Gobs is annoying. Their bodies are tar-like, and half the time when you hit them, your weapon becomes stuck to them. Trying to fight with a Bog Gob stuck to your weapon is ... difficult. Trying to take time to clear your weapon during the middle of a fight is also problematic. The 2nd time my mace got stuck I just left it there, and drew my dagger. I figured if it also got stuck I would simply stand there in a defensive stance and absorb their attention while Gronk and Kel Tor finished them off. However, after the first two were slain, we heard a commotion behind us, and and a non-undead Bog Gob, riding a large Boar, rode past us before we even knew it was there. It was carrying the village smith and unofficial mayor. I briefly gave chase, but it was much faster than me, and like I said, our first clue that he was there was when he rode past us on his way out of town.

About this time Ibon succumbed to his wounds and fell unconscious. The Bog Gobs moved very slowly, and we managed to play "keep away" with the remaining Bog Gobs until they finally fell to ranged fire.

I purchased some booster potions on credit and in the morning my first two recovery tests finally cleared up all of the damage from the previous days fight, except for a nasty wound to my shield arm. Nevertheless we set out in search of the missing smith. We dragged along some drunkard of a troubadour as I recalled that they were good with languages. Despite the drunkard's brave words, he was less than thrilled with the idea of venturing into the untamed wilderness. We ended up having to drag him along by the scruff of the neck. I took a half dozen sticks to serve as crude clubs, disposable weapons that I could simply drop if they became stuck in a Bog Gob.

We found a normal (not undead) Bog Gob, and the drunkard quickly used his magic to learn it's language. Strangely, the drunkard did not object to permanently filling one of his magical talent given language slots with a language like Bog Gob. My understanding is that Troubadour's develped the magic to quickly and easily learn languages in order to be able to sing elvish love songs in the original Speithreal, and battle chants in their original Trollish. I suspect this fellow has already recognized that he is likely to be more popular in Bog Gob villages than in Elvish Courts.

Anyway, the drunkard rather sullenly translated for us, and the Bog Gob took us to his village to talk to his chief. The chief told us that the Boar rider was a follower of Raggok, and was an evil man. He offered us guides to the Boar riders camp.

We arrived at the ruined tower around dusk. We sent our archer in to scout. He saw the smith being flayed alive, and signaled us to come forward. Unfortunately, the cultist saw the signal, and attacked. Gronk retreated. The occupants of the tower (the Bog Gob cultist, 3 undead Bog Gobs, and the riding boar) returned to the tower, but remained on high alert. The cultist then stabbed the smith, obviously trying to kill him before we could rescue him. We attacked.

Gronk went to one window and shot an arrow into the tower, The nethermancer started casting a Life Circle of One. I went to another window and started playing tag with two of the Bog Gobs. This worked well until the Bog Gobs hit upon the tactic of just sticking themselves to me. Eventually both Bog Gobs were stuck to me. We were all harried, so they could not really hurt me, but I could not manage to get ether unstuck. I finally draged them to the life circle of one and managed to burn one of them off that way. Eventually all the foes were killed and the Smith rescued.

We revisted the Bog Gob village to let them know the cultist had been defeated. We carried the Boar back to Brandon's Rest, where it served as the centerpiece of a feast of celebration.

Re: AAR: Down By the River

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 12:41 am
by Shaalwyd
The Great Library of Throal thanks Gronk Longtusk, Krel Tor and Thane Cawdor for their contributions.

Journal reward: 50 silver and 25 legend points.