Kingmaker+Session+8


 * 8-15-2015 **
 * Arrival of the Gypsy Caravan and Orcs From the North! **

Mid-autumn in 1403...  Many repairs had been done, and [|Oleg's Trading Post] continued to grow. A small building now stood outside of the tall log walls that housed the three sorcerers who had come from the elven city of Evereska in the Greycloak Hills to the west.

The adventuring heroes returned to Oleg's to tell the tales of the second level in the Emerald Spire. Gifts of masterworked longswords were given to Kesten Garess and his guards, brought back from the adventure in the spire.

Spending a couple of days catching up on the happenings in the post, [|Oleg] told them that there had been a few skirmishes with the bandits, and several had come close... but they seem to have stayed on the edge as though being told to watch, but not to engage.

 Lyssa enjoyed the simple pleasure of doing laundry, hanging clothing and fresh sheets out on a line between buildings.

 Senathliel walked the plains outside of the trading post in the late afternoon, looking for any sign of her elder elven friend and his companion. Coming from the direction of the [|Bloodstone pass], a small group of travelers with brightly covered wagons were heading toward Oleg's... but off of the road, Sen could see a large group of warg riders on an intercept course to hit the wagons. Wide-eyed, she weighed out her timing back to the others vs moving to the aid of the wagon travelers.

A second before she moved toward the wagons, a massive white tiger leapt from the woods to land in front of her with a mighty roar, showing off his impressively sharp fangs! "Fate!" Sen beamed excitedly, wrapping her arms around his enormous neck and burying her face into his fur. A familiar elven archer stepped calmly out beside them, and nodded to the aasimar woman, "I'm certain that Fate is happy to see you too... but shouldn't you be going to warn your friends?" Immediately recognizing the voice, Sen looked up with an elated smile, fully distracted from everything else, "Lethis!" He smiled at her, nodding toward the impending victims with their wagons, and the young oracle slowly followed his gaze. "Oh, I... I should," she nodded hazily, as she took in the scene, recalling what she was doing just a moment ago. He hoisted her in her armor onto Fate's back, and nodded to the large cat, "Take her to the fort."

Sen leaned down against Fate's back, gripping firmly to the fur on the back of his neck, as the massive tiger sped across the plains, his claws tearing into the dirt beneath him. Never having ridden before, the young oracle clung to him, eyes squeezed tight! <span style="color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">

Lyssa was happily hanging clothes in the october breeze, and in the distance she could hear a scream coming closer. She looked up toward the sound to see an enormous white with black stripes tiger bounding in through the front gate with Sen holding on for dear life atop it's back. It skidded to a halt in the center of the fort with the young armored aasimar clattering off of the side of him. "Lyssa! This is Fate. Fate, this is Lyssa," Sen beamed up at the human war priest, gesturing to the fearsome beast beside her, "There's riders to the east! They're going to attack a caravan! Hurry! Gather the others."

The young blonde-haired priestess of Tempus dropped the wet shirt back into the basket without hesitation and ran for the bunk house yelling for the others. Inside the bunk house, Thrice was contently sitting on her bed, eating a sloppy sandwich that dribbled onto her clean shirt. She shrugged and tossed the shirt into a laundry pile, putting on another clean one, "Eh, Lyssa will get it." She giggled with glee as she glanced over at the chore board where she had changed the laundry chart to be Lyssa's name every day. Naahir stirred on his bed, napping in a small beam of sunlight that was coming in the window. Keer was walking out of the main house with his unearthly beautiful eidolan, Uriel. All three heard a rising commotion outside.

Thrice and Nahiir froze in the doorway, peering at the ground for caltrips before stepping out to see Sen standing next to a magnificent and enormous white tiger. "There are some kind of riders moving in to attack a caravan," Sen pointed outside of the gates. "We should go and help!" Lyssa insisted, nodding. Naahir rushed to one of the towers to look out over the plains. "What's on the caravan?" Thrice asked, glancing with moderate interest toward the gate. "Colorful canopy wagons?" Sen answered questioningly, having no idea what the approaching party was bringing with them, "Oh, and everyone... this is Fate. Fate, this is everyone..." She gestured to the impressive tiger next to her who's back was as tall as her chest, and then out toward her gathering companions. "Oh," Thrice looked him over, "Is he yours?" Sen shook her head and stroked the cat's fur, "No... he belongs to Aralethis." "Who?" Thrice tilted her head. "A friend of mine," Sen laughed. The enormous tiger yawned beside her, showing off his imposing fangs before reeling off to the side and darting back out through the gate. "Wait! I'm going with you!" Sen turned to see his striped fur disappearing through the gate as he bounded back through the plains toward the wood. Naahir joined the group, pointing to the stables, "They look like orcs... We should use horses to move faster!" Everyone climbed onto a horse and rode them out onto the plains with little if any experience. The wagons were winding along the road as green-skinned tusked orcs rode dark furred beasts with red eyes, closing in on them! Thrice and Keerin were the first to arrive, dropping from their horses near the warg riders. Naahir moved in closer as the wagons and horses raced toward their aid. Wargs, nearly as big as the horses, closed in, snarling and spooking the horses that the colorfully scarved caravaneers tried to keep moving. Lyssa closed in with the rest of the group as Sen struggled to get her horse to do what she wanted, eventually dropping to the ground and slapping the beast back toward the trading post. Thrice pulled her crossbow, shooting a bolt into the closest orc as the horses reared and panicked from the biting wargs around them! The tiefling understood as one of the orcs pointed toward them, shouting to its companions, "Foes! From the fort!" One of the wargs gouged Naahir's side as it tried in vain to take the adept catfolk to the ground! A second quickly closed in on his other side. Keer tried to stab a warg with his spear, but it bit into him instead with it's orc rider barely sweeping a blade over his head. Sen wove a spell of sanctuary around herself and ran toward her outnumbered catfolk slayer companion as Lyssa dashed to the other side of the wagons to protect the caravan. The tiefling alchemist threw a bottle to the ground in front of two warg riders, a fiery blast exploding out over over both of them! One of them charged into Thrice, slicing her with his sword as it's warg grabbed onto her throat, dragging her to the ground! Naahir dropped his bow and charged in, digging his claws viciously into one of the wargs! Sen quickly dashed in, sliding to her knees to touch Thrice, sending in powerful magic to close up several of her wounds. Keer stepped back, lunging his spear in to pierce the orc attacking him as Uriel clawed and bit into it's back! The warg reared back, biting into the eidolan and tackled her to the ground! A warg in front charged in to bite into Lyssa as the falchion of it's orc rider whistled over her head! The mighty war priestess swung her flail out to cave in the orc's head, leaving it's body to crumple off of the warg! As Thrice rolled out from under the warg and got back to her feet, she could feel the air as the orc's blade whiffed by her flesh! She doused the warg and orc in a fiery plume with another alchemical bomb, killing the orc in a wash of fire! The smell of burning warg fur filled the air. Naahir clawed into the second warg, tearing at it's flesh! It gnashed it's teeth back toward him, but adept catfolk managed to side step it. Keerinaal wove a spell of protection over his eidolan, and Uriel got back to her feet, biting into the warg to tear it's throat open! The warg tried desperately to bite her back, but it's teeth sparked off of the invisible shield around her. As the protective sanctuary faded from Sen, she poured more of her divine energy into the tiefling, closing her wounds and flooding her with health... Thrice frowned with her renewed strength as she could practically taste the purity of the celestial healing coursing through her. Lyssa whipped her flail just over the warg as it dove to bite her, it's teeth clattering against the metal of her armor. Thrice stepped back, sending a bolt from her crossbow into the flank of the smoldering warg as it charged back toward her, gnashing it's teeth close enough that Thrice felt it's fur and spittle brush her skin! Naahir slashed into the great red-eyed beast as it clung desperately to life, snapping back toward the slayer's hands that pinned it's chest. The human summoner wove another spell over Uriel, putting a shield around her as the glowing bluish eidolan pierced both of her claws into the warg and tore out it's throat with her teeth, blood pouring down her chin! Lyssa whirled her flail, impacting the heavy spiked ball into the muzzle of the warg with a spray of blood as it tried again to bite her! Sen stepped into the center of the battle, pulsing out a wave of strong divine energy to heal both Naahir and Thrice. The tiefling's bolt missed her target, giving the smoldering warg one last opportunity to charge in and bite into Thrice's side, toppling her back to the ground! The dark-furred catfolk and snarling warg held each other back in a violent struggle of claws and slathering teeth. T he unearthly beautiful eidolan glided across the field with Keerinaal following her in, blood still seeping from her grin of sharp and jagged teeth. In a viscera of violence of teeth and claws she ripped the orc off of the warg fighting Lyssa and shredded him apart. She dripped in greenish orc blood that practically covered her blue skin. With the orc gone, the warpriestess swung her flail again, burying the spiked ball into the side of the warg, taking it's life! The dark-haired oracle reached through the thrashing flails of the warg as it shook the tiefling in it's jaws to send in another heal to the alchemist as Thrice desperately tried to fend it off. Naahir sank his claws into the back of the jawline of the warg as it leapt toward him, tearing deep with a final fatal strike, and dropped the immense furred beast to the ground! Keerinaal and Uriel doubled back toward the last warg as it again shook mercilessly into the alchemist, tearing open her flesh and spilling her blood to the ground as she screamed! Lyssa moved in toward the others, placing a prayer of Tempus over herself to close her wounds. Sen desperately tried to knock the warg off of Thrice with her spear as the alchemist tried to fight back, screaming in pain! Naahir tumbled, grabbing up his bow, and fired an arrow toward the warg, but it glanced off of the saddle instead. Uriel charged in, leaping on top of the warg to rip it's eyes out and knock it's falling corpse from the tiefling. She turned to smile almost angelically up at the summoner, green goo dripping from every part of her, "Do you want me to kill anything else, master?" Keerinaal surveyed the battle scene to see all of the orcs and wargs now dead and shook his head, "Not unless you somehow thirst for blood." He shrugged. Thrice quickly got back to her feet before she was selected as a possible target. Lyssa took some time to calm the horses, eventually getting them to pull the wagons toward the trading post. A pair of brightly-colored-clothed young humans with dusky skin and dark hair came forward. The handsome man bowed in gratitude, "Thank you very much. You have saved our lives." Keerinaal shrugged casually, his jest lost on the strangers, "It'll only cost you half of what you carry." "We have very little... but you are welcome to what you like of our gypsy baubles," he replied, nodding, "My name is Dmitri, and this is Ramona." He gestured to the woman standing beside him, a strong family resemblance. Four others moved in around them, a couple of them only children. "I am pleased to meet you, Dmitri," the catfolk nodded to him, "I am Naahir of the Soft Foot Clan." "I am pleased to meet you as well," the gypsy nodded to him, "We have not traveled this road in a few years, but we heard word of new settlements and thought we would try our luck... we hadn't heard anything about orcs on the road. We thought the road would be safe." "It is the first we have seen of them ourselves," Naahir agreed and began looking over the area for tracks as Sen and Thrice looked over the bodies. The slayer walked back to the group, "The tracks come from the north." "Perhaps the Staglord is recruiting?" Lyssa suggested, glancing for a moment in the direction of the bandit's camp to the south. Naahir nodded, "It is possible." The group escorted the gypsy family and their wagons into the trading post and Oleg set them up a place to stay for a time in the main house. As the others were settling in the wagons and horses, Dmitri approached Senathliel, kissing the back of her hand, "Thank you again for rescuing us and giving us a place to stay." Unaccustomed to such things, the young oracle blushed and she smiled, "Oh! You're very sweet..." He continued, charmingly, "You're as beautiful as you are powerful." The dusky-skinned aasimar blinked wide green-eyes at him, taken aback by all of his charm and manners, "I..." "Please," he took her hand in both of his, "You must come visit me later. We shall entertain you in gratitude for saving us." Sen nodded, trying to recover her shock as her warm demeanor shined through, "Oh! Of course... we would love that... It sounds fantastic!" "I would like to tell your fortune," he looked up at her with smoldering eyes and traced a finger lightly over her palm, still held in his other hand, "You have the most interesting hand..." The young oracle blinked at him, her pointed dusky ears turning red, "I... I do?" He took another step toward her, still tracing her palm, and a clothespin broke off of the clothesline, snapping a sheet toward them and covering over the handsome young gypsy as he flailed beneath it! "Oh my goodness!" Sen tried to help him remove it, "Are you alright?" Across the grounds, Ramona was batting her eyes at Keerinaal, but glancing at his fearsome unearthly eidolan, she kept her distance. Naahir walked out of the bunk house, looking fully geared for travel, "We should follow the tracks while they are fresh." The others agreed and packed quickly to go with him. Following the tracks to the north... about 10 miles up the road, they found a cave off of one of the rocky outcropping paths. A small plume of smoke drifted out from it. Orc tracks were definitely in the area, but it all seemed fairly newly established. There was no sign of construction around it. The group pulled back, making a quiet camp close by to watch it overnight and rest. Two orcs came out, looking in the direction the warg party had headed and then went back into the cave. At first light, Naahir lead the group up to the cave. Thrice wove a spell around herself to heighten her senses at the entrance. The catfolk signaled that there were 2 orcs up ahead in the dark. The group hid to the side of the entrance as Sen wove a volume of an increasing ghost sound of grunting orc words amidst a hunting party returning to draw the two orcs out. The two orcs came walking out of the cave, "About time you got back... Hey! You're not orcs!" The two green tusked orcs were shocked as the group ambushed them! Uriel leapt on top of of one of them, and it stumbled back trying to get rid of her only to be impaled from behind as Keerinaal drove his spear into it's back! Thrice shot a bolt from her crossbow into the chest of the other, sending it stumbling to the side to land in Naahir's arms as he cut it's throat with his knife. Both orcs were dead, and the group crept forward carefully with Sen and Lyssa giving the others a head start. The cave was cool and damp with a thick carpet of mushrooms. There were buckets around the corner that the orcs used for defecating. After several disgusted faces, the catfolk, tiefling, and summoner continued scouting ahead quietly. Thrice, with her darkvision seen a couple of orcs ahead, harvesting mushrooms from the floor. The orcs looked up at the sound of approaching feet, and the alchemist whispered to her slayer companion, "Stop... there's two in front of you." Naahir froze in place, trusting her warning, and waited. The summoner and his eidolan seen them stop ahead, so they too froze in place. One of the orcs called out into the dark, "Who goes there?" Thrice answered in orcish, but her voice was sultry and feminine, "Mind your own business, boys." The orcs rushed toward them. Naahir pounced forward to meet them, swinging his sword to knock the first one back, bumping into Thrice's sickle. The orc pulled his own blade and struck mightily across the catfolk's chest as his friend drove a blade into the alchemist! Hearing the sounds of combat ahead, the others rushed to meet them. Hearing the armored feet of their companions coming to join them, Thrice sliced her sickle deeply across the throat of the orc in front of her, dropping him to the ground as Naahir and the second orc clanged blades back and forth! Uriel charged in behind the orc as Sen slipped in to heal the tiefling. Naahir drove his blade deep into the orc, pulling it back with meaty bits of goo, and dropped the corpse to the ground. Thrice looked around to hear the sound of orcish steps coming from both corridors around them, whispering, "We've got company coming." Lyssa put her hands on Naahir, offering a prayer to Tempus, and healed the catfolk fully. Uriel and Keerinaal moved forward, scouting ahead into the next room. The eidolan whispered back to him, "Lots of green skins. A big dog. Shiny chief." The summoner nodded to her, whispering back to the others that there was a lot of action ahead. Naahir moved down the hall in the other direction to find an orc in the shadows, the two slicing into each other with their blades! Thrice quickly followed the catfolk with Lyssa tailing them, bestowing the alchemist with a war blessing. Knowing the warpriest was going down one corridor with the others, the oracle followed behind the summoner in the other direction. Four orcs surrounded Uriel, and Sen called back down the hall, "Thrice! We need your bombs over here!" Hearing her name called, the tiefling slipped back around Lyssa to head toward Sen as the eidolan eviscerated one of the orcs around her. One of the others pierced her flesh with his blade! Naahir went toe to toe with the orc in the corridor, plunging his blade through its great green skin, taking it's life! Thrice leaned over the oracle's shoulder as she arrived, "On him? I only see one orc in there..." "You only see one?" Sen glanced back at her, "Well there's a lot going on in there... but aim for that one!" She nodded. "Okay..." the alchemist shrugged and tossed a bottle down the hall to break over the orc in a fiery explosion, killing him in one shot! "Nice shot!" Sen cheered, "You're supposed to be in front of me... this feels all wrong." She shook her head and stepped forward to put her hands on the summoner, healing him. Thrice grinned, putting her hands on Sen's back, "See how you like it if I'm always touching you." "It feels... rather sinful..." Sen shook her head and giggled.

Keer summoned a celestial viper that slithered to confront the warg as Uriel clawed and tore off flesh from an orc, dropping its corpse to the ground! The warg grabbed the smokey snake in its jaws, rag-dolling it violently! Thrice threw another alchemical bomb into the room as she seen the lead orc cross the doorway, and an explosion of fire waved through the center of the room! The oracle sent a wave of healing energy over her companions, keeping the snake alive to lunge its fangs into the air just above the muzzle of the warg as it shook it! Lyssa spoke a battle prayer over the catfolk and he slashed deeply into an orc in the other corridor. The eidolan eviscerated another orc, spraying green blood over one of the walls! Keer flashed bright lights at the lead orc, trying to daze him with magic, but the great tusked beast shook it off! More green orcs came through the hall behind Thrice, one of them burying it's blade through the back of her shoulder to splash blood onto Sen in front of her! The tiefling crumpled to the ground unconscious! Sen whirled around, "Thrice!" A snarling tusked orc face growled at the young oracle, grunting out a word she didn't understand. She quickly leaned down to pull the alchemist's body behind her, healing her enough to bring her back to consciousness. Naahir stabbed into the orc in front of him, dropping it's body to the ground as Lyssa whirled around at the sound of the clashing blades and the aasimar's voice calling out the tiefling's name. The warpriest, filled with concern, swung her blade into the other orc, but it clashed against it's armor. As the warg was distracted killing off the snake, Uriel turned to swipe her claws across it! Keer splashed out acid over the muscled green orc. The orc glowering over Sen, swiped his axe viciously across her as she slowly turned back toward him, a scream of pain poured from her lips. The orc leader swiped his blade inches from Keer's chest, and Uriel turned to claw into him, knocking him back from the summoner! With her back turned, the warg bit into her side! Lyssa and Naahir doubled back to the combat sounds coming from behind them, the catfolk struck his claws into the back of one of the orcs! Thrice tossed a fiery bomb onto the floor, splashing the orc with an explosion of fire as Sen sent out a wave of positive energy to slightly heal her companions around her. The warg and the lead orc double teamed the eidolan, the furred beast caught a good bite on her other side! Lyssa and Naahir cut through the orc in the back as it's companion again sliced it's axe across Sen! Thrice turned to strike out at the warg, but it side-stepped her as it lunged for the eidolan who then clawed and tore it apart! Lyssa swung her flail, impacting the spiked ball heavily into the archer orc, knocking him to the floor in a bloody heap! With only a single surviving orc, they knocked him out and collected the gold and magical loot. 1000 gold = 200 gold each a ring of protection +1 to Keerinaal a magic bow +1 to Lyssa magic falchion +1 (2D4, crits 18/20) Still available and unclaimed. Who can use a falchion? or are we selling it? When the orc awoke, the young aasimar walked over to question him, accompanied by the tiefling who translated and the catfolk slayer who did his best to look intimidating. "I'll tell you anything you want to know if you just let me go!" the orc pleaded, "And not like the orc king 'let's people go'..." He told them that he came from the north, several days away, "Big chief bring us down here. Spoke with human." Naahir described the Stag Lord, but the orc said it was someone cloaked and dressed in leather... like a bandit. "Bandit man said wagons come on road. Easy pickings. We came down, found cave." "So you had plans to stay down here?" Sen asked. The orc nodded, "That wagon was our first." She nodded, walking away and nodding to Thrice and Naahir, "I leave him in your hands." "She said you have to die," Thrice nodded to him. "What? But you said... you let me go. I was the last," the orc protested. Naahir shook his head, "He's an orc... he'll only cause trouble elsewhere if we let him go." The final orc was dispatched, and the cave entrance was disguised to be a possible future rendezvous point. The group returned to the Trading Post, wondering what other mischief the stag lord had stirred up if indeed this was his doing. 1000 xp to Naahir, Lyssa, Thrice, Keerinaal, and Sen!