Keep on the Borderlands - The Path of Evil - Session 30

SESSION 30: DAY 13-14 – CAVES OF CHAOS TO BURG LIECHENSTEIN  

Lucien turns to the group and declares “Asmodeus has genuinely blessed our efforts to date. I think it would be best to beat a hasty retreat from this place. Whilst we are unwounded our resources run thin and more powerful adversaries await. Best to get back to a safe place, rest and make up with another go on our own terms.”

Malandir adds, “We have much to carry and some light casualties. Perhaps I should scout the secret passage before we leave to have an idea what is at the other end.” He quietly walks up to the passage and looks to the west. He can see that it extends to the range of his infravision, 30ft, in a straight direction but then he can see no more. 

He comes back to the party. “I can see nothing down there. Let’s not push it. Let’s go back to the Burg and cash in all this loot. We might be able to get some better equipment.”

Kord nods “I agree. We should go back to the Burg. Whilst we may not have many wounded we’ve expended most of our spells and we’re exhausted. Also, we’ve learned a lot from this expedition and I think it’s time to take stock and plan our next attack.”

Lucien adds “Mayhaps we should get better equipment for the men at arms as well. Perhaps upgrade their armour, maybe get them morning stars and light crossbows as well.”

The men at arms all nod in agreements “Yes, yes better equipment for us.”

They re-group and get back into formation. Ragnar is placed in the middle of the formation and kept under watchful eye. As they approach the outside of the cave Lucien asks him “Ragnar, what tribe do you fear the most? Is there one warlord or chieftain of all the tribes? Do any of the tribe brag about having pet monsters and how do they describe them?”

Ragnar looks confused. Lucien uses Sense Motive and feels that Ragnar thinks this is a trap question. The little monster responds “Youz, youz evilz klericz are ze most powerful monsterz in all ze kavez.”

They head straight to the Burg and bypass Cragmaw Caves. They encounter nothing along the way, and, in the dark they finally reach the safety of the Burg. [DM’s note: 3 random encounter checks (ie 1 day and 2 night checks) against a 1 in 8 chance but no random encounter]. 

Upon entering the gate the see Knight Lorenz, the Corporal of the Watch. Flanked by brothers of the watch, Lorenz greets the party, makes some remarks about their tatty attire, and collects their entrance fees. He also places Ragnar under arrest. The men at arms take him away to the dungeon.

They quickly seek out the Cold Hart Tavern where they find warm and familiar surrounds. 

Berrin the proprietor, makes arrangements for a private room for the party. They eat quickly and go to bed to rest. 

The next morning they rise and take stock. They accumulated a lot of experience from their last raid as summarised in the following table.

And they accumulated a lot of loot, as summarised in the following table (note the Not Cashed in Loot at the bottom of the table). 

They still have many of their consumables available.

Scratching their heads they remember there are quite a lot of people that they know in the Burg. 

In summary, the party has earned a lot of experience with Lucien, Kord and Talmark all gaining a level. Malandir isn’t quite there yet but he isn’t far off. 

The men at arms also have gained enough experience to advance a level. 

One of the men, Per, has been taking tutelage from Talmark in the way of advance fighting skills and he’s been learning about Asmodeus from Lucien. He decides to leave the mercenary company and asks if he can join the party. Over breakfast Lucien, Kord, Talmark and Malandir decide that it would be good to have another faithful party member. 

DM’s notes. Guys, Per will advance to become a 1^st level fighter and a player character. He’ll be played by Vampifan aka Bryan Scott, who you may have seen post to the site from time to time and you’ll note his site in the “Blogs I like to read” column in the left hand margin. Bryan has been a great inspiration to me over the years and if you want to see a great blog with almost a million hits please check out his site. In particular, he has had some great single player campaigns and I’ve learned a lot about solo campaigning from his site. I’ve applied a lot of the principles that Bryan uses to our own Pathfinder games.

Please welcome Bryan. 

We’ll probably have a few sessions of levelling up and local interactions at the Burg. Please come back to me with details of leveling up and also interactions that you want to do at the Burg including selling the loot, buying new equipment etc. I’ll update the summary character sheet in due course. 

DEW