Our Protagonists:
Glimmer, a Dragonborn ranger
Rurik 'Treehugger', a Dwarf Druid
Aengus, a Gnome Rogue
Aiamur, a Half-Elf Warlock (and bounty hunter) from Glantri
Namdoodle, a Gnome Wizard
'Snake', a mysterious Yuan-Ti cleric, from far off lands (The Serpent Penninsular)
Kelven, Grand Duchy of Karameikos, Early Spring:
The party met with Stephan who offered them a job helping to transport some horses from his families homestead Sukiskyn on the edges of the Dymrak forest to the Elven village of Rifflian.
They were original offered 100gp each but after some careful negotiation they settled on a figure of… 100pg each.
Stephan left to conduct unspecified other business but not before booking them on the first boat of the year upriver.
Thaumont 7th
After final prep the party board the boat, skippered by Kalanos. He would take them as far as Misha’s Ferry, a day's walk from Sukiskyn.
They made good progress until suddenly the boat jerked to a halt, causing a number of the characters to fall prone. The others who kept their footing were targeted by some archers who emerged from the undergrowth. Some other men dived into the icy water swimming towards the boat.
 |
| Attack on the riverboat |
A short battle resulted in the defeat of the bandits whose leader quickly assessed that the best option was to run away.
The PCs debated whether to take the chain that had stopped the boat but Kalanos was keen to reach his final destination (a lumber camp upriver from the ferry) before nightfall. A quick search of the archers bodies reveal nothing of worth except a few arrows but they all had strange scars on their wrists and necks that looked like they had spent a long time in shackles.
The rest of the trip was without incident apart from some party bickering and Misha's Ferry was arrived at in late afternoon.
Misha was not around but Kalanos told them she often went off hunting with her bear. Kalanos told them to make themselves at home until she came back and then bid them farewell.
Snake started cooking a meal while the rest rested up in the hut but were soon disturbed by a roaring sound and the largest bear they had ever seen emerged from the undergrowth.
Rurik turned themself invisible and attempted to talk with bear. It demanded the party tell it where Misha was and that it had not seen her since the day before. It was in no mood for chatting once it smelled the Dwarf's location so it attacked and wounded him. The party fought back, wounding the bear. Glimmer decided they should subdue the bear to find out more information but it was already badly hurt and scampered back into the woods.
Nanfoodle noted that there had been no sign of a struggle in the cabin.
Misha did not return but the party wisely decided to stay in the hut overnight, barricading the door and shuttering the windows.
DM notes:
I was a bit timid with the first encounter - the original had either 22 or 18 combatants depending which paragraph you read - decided to have 11 but an entangle spell dealt with most of the swimmers so I decided the leader was not suicidal and [redacted] would not happen.
Cave bears in 5e are much less formidable than in BECMI - only two attacks and no hug. So I’m not surprised that my group decided to attack instead of hiding in the hut. Again I decided it would run off when wounded.
Next time: a walk in the woods.
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