With all three players available this time we did the wrap up from the previous session with the characters returning to town to get their reward for killing the Cave Bear. The Leroy the Ninja was almost blind in the daylight having acquired Darkvision from the cursed stone. After collecting their reward they headed back to the inn where they unloaded some wares and put Leroy down to rest. Sethroy the Assassin went about selling the gem stones and got mixed reactions due to his newly acquired Feral Aura. The jeweler gave him a better deal in fear of this Human with an inner rabid animal, and the weapons dealer gave him half the going rate because he didn’t like the look of him. Meanwhile Kensuke the Martial Artist was walking behind Sethroy completely covered, with hood (like a sith) due to his physical appearance as his skin had not just gone albino, but slightly translucent as well. He borrowed the obsidian knife from Sethroy and left to go shave has he had not done so for almost a year.
Sethroy then goes to the Enchanter to see about making a special cloak out of the Cave Bears unusual pelt and to see if this curse could get lifted. After charging them slightly more than what they just brought back from the tunnels the Enchanter gives Sethroy a quick inspection and tells him to go back to the Inn and he will refer the case to a colleague of his.
That day Leroy introduces Bob his galactic space hamster. Bob has much to say on almost everything but since only Leroy speaks galactic space hamster he will have to interpret. The next day men from the city watch arrive to escort the three to Patriarch Ranz Mentzer the ruler of Cillamar. The Patriarch was once a high priest in the Theocracy of the Lance and is a very pious man. After interviewing them the Patriarch says he feels slightly responsible for their condition. After all if he had had the men to go after the Cave Bear this would never have happened to the player characters. The Patriarch will not abide evil in any forms, nor will he allow the possession by evil forces. To battle this evil he has assigned Theodore the Acolyte and Aloysius the Artificer-Scholar. After a week and a few days of research not only is the crystalline Cave Bear Cloak finished but Theodore found some information about a Swamp Witch to the south Kyleth the Witch Queen is known to be in possession of the Ars Maieficus, a wicked tome of forbidden knowledge sure to detail the cure to the crystal’s curse.
The following day the three head off with Sethroy on horseback, Kensuke and Leroy on foot and Aloysius will be accompanying with two ponies, one laded down with boxes. The first three days of travel are peaceful but on the fourth day the party is attacked by bandits. I mean who wouldn’t attack some one who is obvious a minor lord with his expensive cloak, 2 retainers (only one that has weapons) on foot and an old man with two ponies laden down with what is obviously treasure. The party refuse to pay the ‘toll’ and Leroy rolls a 4 on perception! He easily spots the three bowman hidden in the brush. The following battle takes about eight seconds as Sethroy and Leroy throw knives at the bowmen and Kensuke powerleaps to the man in the road and paralyses his legs and arms with pressure points. Leroy then Power jumps to the bowman who is still recovering from the surprise of the knife in his chest and in three quick strikes (even after penalties) there is an explosion of bits of flesh, bone and blood has his Ninja-To slices through the unarmored bowmen. By now Sethroy finally gets to the third bowman (dodging a shot on the way) and dispatches him cleanly. The three tell the bandit on the road to go back to his farm and lead an honest life or they will be back to punish him.
That night everyone has strange dreams of something evil chasing them towards the obelisk. When they wake up they have gone through another transformation. The rest of them have gone albino and dark vision and Leroy has gained Feral Aura. The group now has a dilemma as they can no longer see properly during the day. Not to fear says Aloysius as he pulls out a weird head contraption with leather straps, brass tubes and rose quartz enchanted lenses. I can see fairly well with my Nocturnal Occulus! The party camps for the rest of the day. Aloysius shows the group his hand held repeating catapult, although it really should be mounted on a tripod as it is very unbalanced, and not very accurate but works well to pepper an area with small stones.
That night the group move slowly (as the horse and ponies can’t see that well) and enter the swamp. Their feral aura works in their favor as most of the wild animals stay away (it was at this point the GM remembers the horse and ponies should have reacted to it and decides it’s better not to mention his mistake to the players). After a day in the swamp the party find a series of foot bridges going between ‘islands’ in the swamp. Following it brings them quickly to a scene of carnage as Orcs lay scattered around their barred wagons. Something very large hit these Orcs. Kensuke does not believe in Orcs and insists they are just really ugly humans with bad dental hygiene. Aloysius swears as he realises that the orcs are using Blight Weapons! He describes the evil process used to create them to the characters and the characters decide to leave them behind. The characters conclude that the wagons are meant to either hold prisoners or slaves due to the shackles on the inside and the iron bars.
After a short time following the bridge network the players see a group of Orcs huddled on an island, they are certainly afraid of something but there is no light for them to see. The characters call out to the Orcs from a distance and the Orcs reply in thier own language and shake their Falchions in the air. The group spend several minutes trying to decide what to do with the Orcs when just then the GM has had enough and shouts. Only one player jumped (sadly) so he was not able to react when a large Dragon falls from the sky behind the Orcs and starts attacking them relentlessly. The Horse and Ponies should have bolted but the GM forgot about them again. Leroy and Kensuke Power Jump into the fray doing an Eiffel Tower on the way while Sethroy runs up and Aloysius starts setting up his repeating catapult.
It is obvious that the Dragon is behaving strangely and seems to be sick. Kensuke unleashes a barrage of attacks on the Dragons neck while Leroy pummels it with his tonfa’s. The crushing attacks appear to be doing minimal damage to the dragon. By the time Sethroy arrives the dragon had not managed to land a single blow on the heroes. Leroy has now focused the attacks on the dragons Eyes (missing most of the time) and Sethroy attacks with a swing and a lunge. the first weapon to actually puncture the dragon and Sethroy is rewarded by a splash of acid on his hands causing a bit of pain. Now the dragon is extremely enraged and bites Leroy however the GM rolls a 2 for damage and Leroy’s Ninja armor soaks up the damage and the dragon looses a tooth. A few more rounds and the players dispatch the dragon and the creature seems to have some form of necrotizing fasciitis. Some of the scales are in good nick and Sethroy and Aloysius start to plunder the creature while Kensuke and Leroy scout out the area using a map they found on one of the Orcs corpses.
40 minutes later they come on an Orc Stronghold made of Wood with a 20 foot high Wooden Palisade. The Towers have Goblin Guards which Kensuke says are just ugly midgets. [I should point out by now Kensuke agrees that Orcs had existed but all the ones he has seen are now dead so they are extinct, just like dragons. <sigh>] Using their Super Jump, a DX check, and a stealth roll at -2 the two Super Jump to the top of the palisade wall and climb down. Inside they find two slave pits with Humans, some Elves, 3 dwarves and 2 gnomes. Here we end the adventure as we ran out of time.
After 40 minutes
