Solo 'Through Sunken Lands' RPG, Part 6 - The High Mountain Inn

Karloak the hermits cottage

The wayside inn in the mountains.

Time 7am 

Date 15th March
Weather - Overcast and raining.

The 4 PC's and Tilly the rogue are fully rested, clean and ready to continue after spending two days at Karloak;s cottage.  They are all a little puzzled by Karloaks strange appearance's and equally strange disappearances.  They came upon Gedyel Moodlum, warden of Karmble Hold who told them the rumour of the ship that sailed on land and when asked about Karloak seemed to hesitate before answering that he new nothing of the old hermit.  The storm that forced them to spend two nights ant the cottage has now subsided but it is still raining.   Tillys mood seems worse than the weather.

GM - Tilly is in a foul mood, she is upset by Kaloaks disappearance and the fact that its taken four days to get just two days into the journey, there being still a further two to three days before they reach their destination.  She takes the party eastwards over meadow land towards Eastward towards a large forested area.  At the forest, Tilly picks up a narrow trail which she follows for about 2 miles into the forest before turning off the trail and picking a way through the forest for a further 4 miles, the going is slow but, thankfully perhaps, uneventful.  The weather is overcast, cool and, as the forest thins and gives way to a low mountain region, the rain comes.  Tilly picks up another track through the mountains, she says she knows a wayside in nearby and she feels sure that they are far enough away from Jundarr not get unwanted attention.  As evening approaches you make it to the inn, the aptly names 'High Mountain Inn'.

This was about a 12 miles journey, I made dice rolls for both random encounters and unwanted attention from the Jundarr Merchants men, it was only towards the end of the days travel that an encounter in the mountains occurred, I rolled on a table to find out what this encounter was and got 'Inn', that seemed very appropriate as it was the end of the day.

I ask the oracle if everything was as it should be at the 'High Mountain Inn'. roll d20 = 10, d6 = 3, so we get 'No (apparently)'.

GM - The inn seems unusually quiet even for a wayside inn high in the mountains, you have settled yourselves down at your table to enjoy the meal provided by the Inn.  The meal is unusually bland for one provided by the High Mountain Inn.
As you wash down your food with ale from the bar, Martisha Vinetalker, the inns owner, appears from the kitchen and makes her way to your table.

She asks how your meals was but before you can answer she pulls over a chair and sits down,  She says she has a problem and hopes you may be able to help her with it.

Martisha tells you that her cook, Cooragh has run out of her favourite herbs and thats why the food is so bland.  She gets the herbs from a grove in the woods nearby, apparently on her last trip she found a group of unsavoury types had taken up residence there and prevented her from getting the herbs she needed.  She is happy for you to speak to Cooragh for more information and would then like you to deal with the problem.  She is desperate to get Cooraghs the herbs as the poor quality of the food is already losing Marisha customers. 

To your surprise, Tilly bangs her fist on the table and tells Martisha that you would be happy to sort the problem out, with that you all trot into the kitchen to speak to Cooragh.

MARIANNE - we should ask Cooragh if she knows what or who has taken over the grove/

I ask the oracle if Cooragh can tell us who the unsavoury types are that stopped her from collection the herbs, roll d20 = 19, d6 = 5, so ;Yes(and).

GM - Cooragh tells you she saw strange evil looking chaos creatures, with grim faces, warty leathery skin and several horns growing from their heads and she had never seen anything so frightning, not even in these parts of the mountains.

SANA - can Cooragh tell us how many of these chaos beasts she saw?

I roll on the oracle, d20 = 19, d6=2, so 'Yes(and)'

GM - Cooragh says she counted up to 10 and then she saw a huge one who she guessed was the leader/

DORANUS - Is Cooragh able to give us directions to the grove?

I roll on the oracle, d20 = 17, d6=5, so a 'Yes(so long as)'

GM- Cooragh says they should head north up the mountain for about a mile where they will come to the edge of a wood, they should easily be ablt to find a small mountain stream there and they should follow that for a further mile, that will lead them directly to the grove.

ALRIK - can Cooragh tell us or show us what the herbs look like, if we can we will bring some back for her.

Roll on oracle d20= 4, d6 = 5, so 'No(unless)'

GM - Cooragh says it is difficult to describe the herbs she needs, unless.  She goes to a cupboard and gets out a small box, she opens it up and inside is a small dried plant, she takes it out and gives it to Alrik, she tells him that this a dried piece of the herb, it should help them identify it, it will usually be found ay the edge of the grove.

ALRIK - I will take the dried herb and the box from Cooragh and as we leave on our quest I will put in my bag, hopefully we can find some for her. 

GM - As you make ready to leave, Martisha tells you that there is probably no more than two hours of day light left, she hands you a couple of torches and a tinder box, saying you may need these to get back but if you follow the stream all should be well.  

MARIANNE - do any of us have any idea what these chaos creatures are.

Roll on oracle, d20 =1, d6=1, a straight 'No'

SANA - do we make it the grove before dusk.

Roll on oracle, d20 = 15, d6 = 2, so 'Yes(in order to). 

GM - you head north, find the edge of the woods and pick up the stream, In order to find out how much time is left before dusk I roll 1d6 and multiply 10 to find out how many minutes of daylight are left.

roll on d6 = 5 so 50 minutes of daylight left.

You notice the grove in the near distance, there is still 50 minutes of daylight left but you will have to be quick to see off the Chaos creatures, find the herbs and get back to the inn, its unlikely it will still be light when you make it back.

ALRIK - can we sneak up on the creatures in the grove.

GM -  you can try, Doranus has the lowest Dex score, so you need to roll 10 or less to succeed.  As Marianne, Sama and Tilly all have the stealth skill, I will allow you +2, so roll 12 or less/

DORANUS - I roll d20 and get 4, so we easily sneak up on them.

GM - you sneak up on 10 Lawtes plus their leader.  They have build 3 rudimentary shacks in the grove and are currently all sitting around a fire in the middle of the grove, eating something that smells at best like its gone off. 

Hit Dice: 1d6 (4HP)
AC: 12
Attack: +0, Weapon and breath

Alignment: Chaotic

XP 15

Leader.

Hit Dice 2d6 (2HP)

AC14

Attack +1 weapon and breath (the leader will be armed with a battle axe. 1d8 damage)

XP 20

Notes:  Breath, the breath of the Lawtes is poisonous, anyone within 5 feet of a Lawte must make a save vrs Poison or suffer 1d4 hits.

For each Lawte, roll 1 d6 to see which weapon it uses.
1-3, spear 1d6 damage

4, Hand Axe 1d4 damage

5, Bow and 20 arrows, 1d6 damage

6 Battle Axe 1d8 damage.

note here, if the Lawtes leader is killed or 50% of the Lawtes are killed, there will be a chance the rest will run away. 

Tilly fires both her hand crossbows at the nearest (Lawte 1), she rolls 15 for one crossbow, 5 for the other, so inflicts 1d4 roll = 3hits.

MARIANNE - I will fire my crossbow at the next neares, roll to hit = 17, damage roll 4, thats a hit and a kill.

SANA - there is not much I can do this round I will just stay hidden and see what happens, I keep my eye on the big brute of a Lawte.

DORANUS - I touch Alriks shoulder and wisper 'aim true', I cast my blessing spell on him, that will give him +2 to hit with his bow.

ALRIK - I will aim at a different Lawte, roll to hit with my Eldrich Bow, 10, +2 as its my specialist weapon and +2 bonus for Doranus' cantrip = 14 a hit, roll d8 = 6 damage, another one hits the ground.

GM - with 2 of their own dead, the Lawtes jump up and look around to see where the attack is coming from.

I ask the oracle if they are able to notice the direction the shots were fired, roll d20 = 3, d6=2, so 'No(surprisingly)

GM - the Lowtes seem to be surprisingly unsure where you are attack from, you notice two of them load arrows into their bow strings but don't loose them.

Tilly has loaded her hads crossbows again and fires them at the same Lawte but rolls of 3 and 7 mean she misses with both.

MARIANNE - I will aim one more arrow at the wounded Lawte, see if I can finish him,  roll d20 =17, d6 =5 so a hit and it takes a further 5 hits, a third one is dead.

SANA - I ready my spear, if they work out where we are I will charge that big one, he must be the leader.

DORANUS - things are in our favour it seems, I will slowly draw my short sword, ready for any hand to hand combat.

ALRIK - I will aim for another one of them, roll to hit d20 +2 = 17 so a hit, d8 = 8 damage, a fourth is down.

I ask the oracle if  the Lawtes work out the direction of the attack and get d20=20, d6=2, so 'Yes(on the contrary).

GM - With four now down, the Lawtes seem to get themselves organised, you notice the leader pointing in your direction, they all draw weapons, two fire bows in your direction but to no affect the rest beging to advance towards you

Before anyone can stop her, Tilly draws Karloaks runesword which seems to get a blueish aura around it and jumps into the grove, striking out at the nearest Lawte, roll d20 = 13 +1, 14 a hit, d8= 7 +2, so 9 damage, a fifth one down.
Tilly rolls saving roll for poison, d20=20 so she passes.

MARIANNE - I will be little use with my dagger, so I will get another shot off with my crossbow, roll to hit 12 +1 = 13 a hit, damage 3, the one left with the bow takes 3 hits.

SANA - I charge the leader, poison saving roll 19, poisonous breath has no effect, roll to hit with my spear is 15, a hit, I do d6 = 5 points of damage.

ALRIK - I will try one more arrow, roll d 20= 5 a miss.

DORANUS - I charge another one, roll to hit 13, a hit, damage d6=5, a kill, a sixth down

GM - the leader strikes back at Sana, roll d20 =6, but he fails to inflict any damage.

With 6 Lawtes down I use Zathrum 2.2 to see if they stay fighting or flee.  I roll d20 on the probability table and get a 10, thats a 50/50 chance, so over 50 on d 100 they flee, 1 roll 93, the Lawtes don't hang around, the last 5 begin to run into the forest.
I ask the oracle  if Marianne and Alrik can get one final shot at them, roll d20 =17, d6 =6, so 'Yes' and +1 intervention  point 

MARIANNE - As they make a run for it I fire at their leader, roll d 20 = 9, I miss.

ALRIK - I do likewise, roll = 12 +2 so I hit for 5 points of damage, the leader is done for, that should see them off for good.

The fight is over, it proved a little one sided, they look for the herbs cooragh needs, an intelligence roll against Doranus is a 4 so they easily find the herb just as darkness begins to desend.  Before they go, the party set fire to the Lawtes shacks and burn the bodies of the dead ones.
They follow the river to the edge of the woods and with the light of their two torches for help, find their way back to the inn.

GM - the fight is over, no one injured, herbs found, mission complete.  Cooragh is made up that you have cleared the grove of the chaos creatures, Martisha too, indeed she puts you up for free for the evening and a free meal is thrown in as well.  In the morning before you depart, Martisha gives you 100 silvers as a reward, Till shares them out, 20 silvers each, she arranges to leave the horse and cart here at the inn, the going will be too difficult  to take the cart, the next leg of the journey will have to be on foot.

Next - Part 7, the last leg.