Mission: The Great Gats-Bee
GM: Aeggy
Date: 2018-04-05
Difficulty and circle rating: Circle 2 Medium
Player Rewards:
Character Name: 800 Legend, 230 Silver, 3 TIPs
Fliver 800 Legend, 230 Silver, 3 TIPs
Zhuron: 800 Legend, 230 Silver, 3 TIPs
Jik'escala: 800 Legend, 230 Silver, 3 TIPs
Whyr'wyndyl: 800 Legend, 230 Silver, 3 TIPs
Downtime Actions Available:
Zhuron: Craft Armor (7)
AAR: The Great Gats-Bee
Moderator:etherial
-
ChrisDDickey
- Posts:1011
- Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm
Re: AAR: The Great Gats-Bee
Giant insects have been plaguing Iceclaw Moot again. A group is rumored to have spotted what they believe to be the Blood Bee hive, and some of us have resolved to check out the suspect cave and clear it if it turns out to be the hive. I remember that several of my early missions consisted of 3 spellcasters (myself included) and a single troubadour, with no real fighter types among us. I was glad to note that for this mission we assembled 2 warriors, Zhuron and Whyr'wyndyl, and the swordmistress Jik'escala. Lots of meat shields!
Before leaving Throal I bought a riding goat, which I named "nanny", and which provides much more milk per day than I can possibly drink. I also bought a saddle and tack, plus a windling tent. A windling tent is basically a hammock with a waterproof roof, and is meant to be installed high in trees. In addition to the many tales of the ancient legends and hero's, I have spent many hours in the Great Library pouring over the journals of current hero's, and had noted that several had made a point of buying rock-salt before setting out to battle blood bee's, and coating themselves liberally with it.
I have a map of the route to Iceclaw moot, so navigating our way there was not difficult. About a half days travel short of the moot we spotted some giant ants laying in ambush. We fought 2 drones, 2 solders, and one Praetorian guard ant. We slew the Praetorian Guard ant and one of the drones, but the other drone and the two solders ran off. I suggested we attempt to track them in hopes of finding the ant hive (or hill). It was discussed that ants come tens or hundreds of thousands to a hill, but I can not believe that giant ants can be as numerous, as there would not be one thousandths enough food in the entire area to support that many giant ants. Eventually we are going to need to kill the blood bee queen, and the ant queen. And probably the horror that is creating the monstrosities. We need information on their lairs.
We resolved to attempt to track them for one hour. At about the hour mark, we spotted two drones lying in ambush, but when we charged them they took off running. At that point we turned back towards the marked trail again. About halfway back to the trail we were ambushed by 1 Praetorian Guard ant and 8 drones. We wounded several of them, but they all ran away before we slew any of them. I attempted to follow the Praetorian Guard Ant to finish it off, and 2 of the drones came to it's aid. I really strongly believe that we need to slay several of these creatures in every encounter if we are ever to succeed in making the queens weak enough to be taken in their lairs. But though we wounded another of the drones, we still were not able to slay anything before they made their escapes.
Night fell as we were still a few hours from the Moot, but we pushed on through the twilight and arrived after full dark. We spent the rest of the evening in the village's pleasant inn, it was nice to not have to get up in the middle of the night for a watch. I changed my practices at the moot. Before I had kept monstrous mantel in my matrixes, and were boosting the combat capabilities of the fighters. After the moot I decided to replace MM with Displace Image, boosting the protection of the fighters.
The first night after the moot we were attacked by 2 blood bee solders during Whyr'wyndyl's watch. I cast blindness upon them, and then started blasting them with Etherial Bolts. Again they ran away before we could slay any. I have noticed that creatures loose all heart when blinded, and run away too early. While a great thing to do for protection, if we want to actually kill the creatures, maybe I should stop blinding them, so they will stay around longer.
We entered the cave that was reputed to be the blood bee lair. There were indications it was a long abandoned mine. We saw movement, and encountered two blood bees. We also were attacked by two very wrong wolves. They were rotten in some way, and had an overwhelming stench. This time I did absolutely nothing except cast and concentrate upon Displace Image upon the two bigger fighters (Whyr'wyndyl's fighting style is already very protected). It took a while but the 3 fighters slew the 4 monsters. None of them ran off, so not blinding them might have been a good idea. And the two fighters my spell was protecting also were never touched, so the fight, while long, was very successful.
Unfortunately, after exploring the cave thoroughly, we saw no trace of the blood bee lair. We can only guess that the previous party got the location wrong. We will have to think of some other way to locate the lair.
Before leaving Throal I bought a riding goat, which I named "nanny", and which provides much more milk per day than I can possibly drink. I also bought a saddle and tack, plus a windling tent. A windling tent is basically a hammock with a waterproof roof, and is meant to be installed high in trees. In addition to the many tales of the ancient legends and hero's, I have spent many hours in the Great Library pouring over the journals of current hero's, and had noted that several had made a point of buying rock-salt before setting out to battle blood bee's, and coating themselves liberally with it.
I have a map of the route to Iceclaw moot, so navigating our way there was not difficult. About a half days travel short of the moot we spotted some giant ants laying in ambush. We fought 2 drones, 2 solders, and one Praetorian guard ant. We slew the Praetorian Guard ant and one of the drones, but the other drone and the two solders ran off. I suggested we attempt to track them in hopes of finding the ant hive (or hill). It was discussed that ants come tens or hundreds of thousands to a hill, but I can not believe that giant ants can be as numerous, as there would not be one thousandths enough food in the entire area to support that many giant ants. Eventually we are going to need to kill the blood bee queen, and the ant queen. And probably the horror that is creating the monstrosities. We need information on their lairs.
We resolved to attempt to track them for one hour. At about the hour mark, we spotted two drones lying in ambush, but when we charged them they took off running. At that point we turned back towards the marked trail again. About halfway back to the trail we were ambushed by 1 Praetorian Guard ant and 8 drones. We wounded several of them, but they all ran away before we slew any of them. I attempted to follow the Praetorian Guard Ant to finish it off, and 2 of the drones came to it's aid. I really strongly believe that we need to slay several of these creatures in every encounter if we are ever to succeed in making the queens weak enough to be taken in their lairs. But though we wounded another of the drones, we still were not able to slay anything before they made their escapes.
Night fell as we were still a few hours from the Moot, but we pushed on through the twilight and arrived after full dark. We spent the rest of the evening in the village's pleasant inn, it was nice to not have to get up in the middle of the night for a watch. I changed my practices at the moot. Before I had kept monstrous mantel in my matrixes, and were boosting the combat capabilities of the fighters. After the moot I decided to replace MM with Displace Image, boosting the protection of the fighters.
The first night after the moot we were attacked by 2 blood bee solders during Whyr'wyndyl's watch. I cast blindness upon them, and then started blasting them with Etherial Bolts. Again they ran away before we could slay any. I have noticed that creatures loose all heart when blinded, and run away too early. While a great thing to do for protection, if we want to actually kill the creatures, maybe I should stop blinding them, so they will stay around longer.
We entered the cave that was reputed to be the blood bee lair. There were indications it was a long abandoned mine. We saw movement, and encountered two blood bees. We also were attacked by two very wrong wolves. They were rotten in some way, and had an overwhelming stench. This time I did absolutely nothing except cast and concentrate upon Displace Image upon the two bigger fighters (Whyr'wyndyl's fighting style is already very protected). It took a while but the 3 fighters slew the 4 monsters. None of them ran off, so not blinding them might have been a good idea. And the two fighters my spell was protecting also were never touched, so the fight, while long, was very successful.
Unfortunately, after exploring the cave thoroughly, we saw no trace of the blood bee lair. We can only guess that the previous party got the location wrong. We will have to think of some other way to locate the lair.
Re: AAR: The Great Gats-Bee
Journal 5 - The Great Gats-Bee
This one will be shorter than before; my head is ready to explode and I stink of fish wine. Mind you, I’ve never enjoyed fish wine, would never choose to drink it again, and certainly would not buy it. But, somehow, I was forced to drink it last night.
Jik’escala, Zhuron and I decided to help out the Iceclaw Moot more. We know how to fight the blood bees now. And we know, generally, where to find them. So we conscripted Fliver to come with us and do some aggressive wildlife management. Why Fliver? I’m pretty sure he would try talking with the bees instead of fighting them.
He didn’t.
Actually, the four of us going after the bees might have been Fliver’s idea. It’s hard to say now. The details are fuzzy.
Before leaving for the moot, Fliver said he’d been reading the adventuring journals of other heroes and they write about the blood bees having a vulnerability to salt. He suggested we buy some in the Grand Bazaar and coat ourselves with it to prevent the bees from attaching to us. I’ll try anything that sounds fun!
Wearing salt in combat...not fun!
Along the way to the moot, we came upon some large ants. They kept trying to ambush us, but would turn and run shortly after we demonstrated superior combat tactics. We tried tracking them back towards their lair, hoping to clean them up. It didn’t work; they would just scatter shortly after engagement. Turns out, they’re attracted to salt. Fliver!!?
We got to the moot late in the evening, some hours after dark. Jik’escala and Fliver were able to convince the gate guards to let us in. We all took refuge at the inn/tavern. It was quite nice to hear the Troll language not being used to curse dwarven architecture every few moments. These Trolls carry a definite sense of freedom in their hearts. Lochost protect them.
Zhuron spent some time rabble rousing with the other Trolls in the tavern. He asked after the scouting parties encountering more blood bees and where the densest pockets of the bees might exist. All in all, very useful.
We set out mid-morning to the northwest, looking for the cave we were told about. Jik’escala and Fliver got us there, though I’m not sure it was a cooperative task. I might be reading into this wrong, but I believe there was a bit of a competition over who knew more about the landmarks we were chasing. Regardless, there were bees to fight at our final destination, so you can’t deny them success.
The bees are something to behold in combat. It’s as if they are receiving in-the-moment instruction on how to engage Name-givers with superior tactics. They try to use one or two as lures, pulling us into ambushes. They try tactics to separate us. They even intelligently use terrain features such as hovering over the edges of pits, hoping some of us will lose balance and fall.
And then, midfight, enter the zombie wolves. These things tried to drag Jik’escala and Zhuron off their feet. And when they chose to attack, shortly after engaging with bees over the pit, it was all too convenient. There is something sinister leading this entourage. And it reanimates dead wolves, so my coin is on Horror.
Ultimately, the cave was void of further clues once the wolves and bees were destroyed. Though, thinking back, we didn’t explore the bottoms of the pits. There might have been more cavern passages down there concealing the Horror.
But, we were tired and needed to get back to Throal.
I seem to recall opening my bottle of wine just before Jik’escala opened hers. And I remember letting a dyre lick all the salt off me some time later. The rest, fades to headache.
Whyr’wyndyl Evenflame, Warrior of the 2nd Circle.
This one will be shorter than before; my head is ready to explode and I stink of fish wine. Mind you, I’ve never enjoyed fish wine, would never choose to drink it again, and certainly would not buy it. But, somehow, I was forced to drink it last night.
Jik’escala, Zhuron and I decided to help out the Iceclaw Moot more. We know how to fight the blood bees now. And we know, generally, where to find them. So we conscripted Fliver to come with us and do some aggressive wildlife management. Why Fliver? I’m pretty sure he would try talking with the bees instead of fighting them.
He didn’t.
Actually, the four of us going after the bees might have been Fliver’s idea. It’s hard to say now. The details are fuzzy.
Before leaving for the moot, Fliver said he’d been reading the adventuring journals of other heroes and they write about the blood bees having a vulnerability to salt. He suggested we buy some in the Grand Bazaar and coat ourselves with it to prevent the bees from attaching to us. I’ll try anything that sounds fun!
Wearing salt in combat...not fun!
Along the way to the moot, we came upon some large ants. They kept trying to ambush us, but would turn and run shortly after we demonstrated superior combat tactics. We tried tracking them back towards their lair, hoping to clean them up. It didn’t work; they would just scatter shortly after engagement. Turns out, they’re attracted to salt. Fliver!!?
We got to the moot late in the evening, some hours after dark. Jik’escala and Fliver were able to convince the gate guards to let us in. We all took refuge at the inn/tavern. It was quite nice to hear the Troll language not being used to curse dwarven architecture every few moments. These Trolls carry a definite sense of freedom in their hearts. Lochost protect them.
Zhuron spent some time rabble rousing with the other Trolls in the tavern. He asked after the scouting parties encountering more blood bees and where the densest pockets of the bees might exist. All in all, very useful.
We set out mid-morning to the northwest, looking for the cave we were told about. Jik’escala and Fliver got us there, though I’m not sure it was a cooperative task. I might be reading into this wrong, but I believe there was a bit of a competition over who knew more about the landmarks we were chasing. Regardless, there were bees to fight at our final destination, so you can’t deny them success.
The bees are something to behold in combat. It’s as if they are receiving in-the-moment instruction on how to engage Name-givers with superior tactics. They try to use one or two as lures, pulling us into ambushes. They try tactics to separate us. They even intelligently use terrain features such as hovering over the edges of pits, hoping some of us will lose balance and fall.
And then, midfight, enter the zombie wolves. These things tried to drag Jik’escala and Zhuron off their feet. And when they chose to attack, shortly after engaging with bees over the pit, it was all too convenient. There is something sinister leading this entourage. And it reanimates dead wolves, so my coin is on Horror.
Ultimately, the cave was void of further clues once the wolves and bees were destroyed. Though, thinking back, we didn’t explore the bottoms of the pits. There might have been more cavern passages down there concealing the Horror.
But, we were tired and needed to get back to Throal.
I seem to recall opening my bottle of wine just before Jik’escala opened hers. And I remember letting a dyre lick all the salt off me some time later. The rest, fades to headache.
Whyr’wyndyl Evenflame, Warrior of the 2nd Circle.
-
ChrisDDickey
- Posts:1011
- Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm
Re: AAR: The Great Gats-Bee
By the way - we ought to seek out "the great gnat bees".
I mean if you are going to use a pun, you might as well use a double pun with an oxymoron thrown in gratis.
I mean if you are going to use a pun, you might as well use a double pun with an oxymoron thrown in gratis.
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BattleChad
- Posts:422
- Joined:Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:43 pm
Re: AAR: The Great Gats-Bee
The Great Library of Throal thanks Fliver and Whyr'wyndyl for their contributions.
Journal Rewards: 40 Legend Points and 57 Silver
Journal Rewards: 40 Legend Points and 57 Silver
Re: AAR: The Great Gats-Bee
The Journal of Jik'escala, T'Skrang Swordswoman Extraordinaire
10 Borrum, 1422 T.H.
The corrupted insects roam the landscape and so must we. Fliver has received word that coating yourself in salt protects you from the Bee's attacks, but my daily bathing supplies already place a heavy burden on my already weary shoulders, so I decided to opt out.
15 Borrum
As we journeyed, Fliver kept trying to lead us on "shortcuts" over mountains, but I tried to keep us traveling North instead of up and down. We kept encountering scouting parties of ants. Easily defeated, the ants were too fast for us to reliably follow and several attempts to track them back to their nest resulted in aimless wandering off the trail. Night began to fall with an hour left in our journey to the Iceclaw Moot, but we decided to press on and luckily made it inside without any further trouble.
16 Borrum
The Iceclaws armed us with knowledge of a cave inhabited by the Blood Bees. Their hive, perhaps? We rested for the night not far from the location, close enough unfortunately for them to detect our presence. Whyr'wyndyl was on watch when two Soldiers attacked. He woke us up and Fliver cast his Blindness Spell upon them and we were able to drive them away.
17 Borrum
Slowly, carefully, we made our way into the cave. I hung in the rear while the Windlings scouted ahead and tried to attract the attention of the Bees. That's when I spotted a wretched stinking undead thing in the shape of a wolf that attacked us from behind. Did I say I was guarding the rear? Because I was, and so I bravely stood between the wolf thing and the rest of my friends, retching all the way as its hideous stench permeated the air.
Despite the difficulties, we slew the beasts we could find but the cave, alas, was just another cave, not the lair of the Blood Bee Queen as we had hoped. How will we locate her?
PCs:
Fliver, male Windling Illusionist
Jik'escala, female T'Skrang Swordmaster
Whyr'wyndyl, male Windling Warrior
Zhuran, male Troll Warrior
10 Borrum, 1422 T.H.
The corrupted insects roam the landscape and so must we. Fliver has received word that coating yourself in salt protects you from the Bee's attacks, but my daily bathing supplies already place a heavy burden on my already weary shoulders, so I decided to opt out.
15 Borrum
As we journeyed, Fliver kept trying to lead us on "shortcuts" over mountains, but I tried to keep us traveling North instead of up and down. We kept encountering scouting parties of ants. Easily defeated, the ants were too fast for us to reliably follow and several attempts to track them back to their nest resulted in aimless wandering off the trail. Night began to fall with an hour left in our journey to the Iceclaw Moot, but we decided to press on and luckily made it inside without any further trouble.
16 Borrum
The Iceclaws armed us with knowledge of a cave inhabited by the Blood Bees. Their hive, perhaps? We rested for the night not far from the location, close enough unfortunately for them to detect our presence. Whyr'wyndyl was on watch when two Soldiers attacked. He woke us up and Fliver cast his Blindness Spell upon them and we were able to drive them away.
17 Borrum
Slowly, carefully, we made our way into the cave. I hung in the rear while the Windlings scouted ahead and tried to attract the attention of the Bees. That's when I spotted a wretched stinking undead thing in the shape of a wolf that attacked us from behind. Did I say I was guarding the rear? Because I was, and so I bravely stood between the wolf thing and the rest of my friends, retching all the way as its hideous stench permeated the air.
Despite the difficulties, we slew the beasts we could find but the cave, alas, was just another cave, not the lair of the Blood Bee Queen as we had hoped. How will we locate her?
PCs:
Fliver, male Windling Illusionist
Jik'escala, female T'Skrang Swordmaster
Whyr'wyndyl, male Windling Warrior
Zhuran, male Troll Warrior
-
BattleChad
- Posts:422
- Joined:Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:43 pm
Re: AAR: The Great Gats-Bee
The Great Library of Throal thanks Jik'escala for her contribution.
Journal Rewards: 40 Legend Points and 57 Silver
Journal Rewards: 40 Legend Points and 57 Silver