Slice of Glaive

We go walking looking for a potion shop. Given the proximity to Ytheis and the High Church, it may be a wasted endeavor. Our eyes are drawn to a warehouse store with bricked up windows. After Jarlyn and Perrol take an interest in the building, I squint at it for a minute and see a glyph that resembles the mark I carve into my arrow shafts for Archer’s Bane. I am very interested in this building now. After a brief discussion of precautions to take, we decide to go up and knock. We are greeted by two old men who reluctantly let us in. After we are inside, the door goes clear and the ceiling starts to glow. After Perrol asks a silly question, one that I smack him on the head for, I inquire as to whether or not I could purchase clear glass discs here. They ask if I am a practitioner of Talacoriom and I reply in a self-effacing affirmative. One of them inquires into the name of my master if it is not overly offensive. When I reply ‘Bob’, he comments that they do not know of an Ulronai practitioner by that name. I tell them that those who know ‘Bob’ will never forget him. They sell me 4 discs in a case for 1 gold. They then offer us tea, and seat me where I couldn’t reach anything should I feel the need to steal. We then continue to converse with them for some time. The others all want various potions, rings, magical items, etc.

We interrogate the remaining bad guy after Jarlyn sets his arm. We decide to take him with us to Dyvnar where the family of the child resides. After another day and a half of travel, we are approached by another group of paladins of the order of the Soldiers of the Blue. They inquire as to whether or not we need aid. We arrive in Dyvnar a day later than originally planned. We are met on the road by the guard of the royal house, it turns out that our infant charge is in line for the throne. They escort us into the city and the palace where the child, and our prisoner, are taken out of our hands.

We are within the cathedral grounds. For the next two nights or so Glandslag is bunking with us until his transfer into the custody of the Hellreavers is complete. We spend a total of a week in Ytheis before leaving for Aarn to follow some unfinished business with the Red Talon slavers. We decide to take a route that involves riding for a week to a town where we can take river boats to Aarn. Three days into our ride, we encounter a dead woman on a horse with a squalling infant in its basket strapped in front of her. We decide to camp so we can get the babe calmed down and figure out what to do with him. Searching her saddlebags, we find that he is a lordling. While digging the trench, we notice that several mounted figures are approaching. On guard, I stand in front of Perrol who is holding the boy. Two of them hold back while the armored members of their group continue to advance. Suddenly, I get a hand signal from Perrol that we should attack.

Segment 12
Attack=Throwing knife with DCV 12 in the chest for 5 damage. He falls off of his horse onto his left arm; we hear a crunch.
The female in the distance has an issue with her horse and ends up shooting one of her fellows in the back. My groupmates then start toward the far opponents.

Segment 3
I move forward to get closer to the far opponent, pulling my stiletto while I run. Those who are farther in front of me advance farther; however, the remaining guy in the distance turns tail and runs. Due to the actions of my group, we are just about done with these posers.

Segment 4
Jarlyn takes care of the man that I’d felled in my first throw so that we can question him.

End Combat

While on watch I am surprised by an arrow shooting out of the darkness and thunking me in the chest. I’m not quite dazed by the hit, but I certainly feel it. I perceive another arrow going to the air about six feet over my head.

Segment 12
We do not go since I was on watch and was surprised.

Segment 1
We see several LARGE figures running toward us. Perrol yells out that he thinks they are trolls.

Segment 3
I move in front of the still sleeping Glandslag and yell at him to wake up. Dodge=Thasori. After some yells and a kick or two, he does wake up. With the flame flaring higher, I am able to make out that the four figures were armored ogres; a line with the center two wielding axes and the two outer with clubs. Kross leaps into the trees. Perrol gets up and prepares himself for battle, Ghoral does the same.

Segment 4
Jarlyn gets to his feet and prepares himself for attack. Then we see spirits come from the direction that the orgres arrived from and surround Kross. He starts screaming like a little girl when we hear “Run little man before I make my bread with your bones.” An arrow thuds into the tree next to him and Kross takes off.

Segment 6
Half move to the outer edge of my club guy.
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 7 in the vitals for 6 damage
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 11 in the arm for 5 damage
He does not appear to be seriously injured, but he is not happy with me. Perrol starts to sing behind me; however, nothing happened. Ghoral moves forward and attacks Perrol’s club guy. My club guy fails to attack me and the other one fails to attack Ghoral. My ax guy rounds on me and the other rounds on Perrol.

Segment 8
Jarlyn moves up to attack my ax guy. Another arrow streaks out of the darkness and hits me in the chest, causing some damage this time. The second arrow shoots by and misses me. Glandslag from behind asks, “May I help you warrior…lass?” When I respond in the affirmative, I feel a hand on my back and then the tingle of magical healing. There is some gibberish said out of the darkness and Perrol warns that they are targeting myself and Ghoral. Abort to Thasori. Ghoral takes two minor hits from the ogres in front of him. I get hit in the stomach with the ax for 4 body and I’m dazed. Simultaneously the club guy misses me. I’m a little out of it at the moment.

Segment 12
The fog in my head slowly clears. The others all fight; Ghoral takes some serious thwackings and Glandslag has to heal him after he falls to the ground unconscious.

Segment 3
I grab one of my Archer’s Bane foci and concentrate on it while mouthing the spell. The segment of arrow shaft breaks into a million glowing pieces that form a near invisible haze around me.
Oruskormaeli with DCV 5 in the vitals for 6 damage. He drops unconscious.
Perrol attacks another ogre from behind and dazes it. Kross is still fleeing farther into the woods I would assume, I cannot see him.

Segment 4
Jarlyn thunks another ogre. The combination of everyone takes down the second ax-wielding ogre. Perrol takes a shitload of hits, finishing with those spirits coming out of the woods and draining him. The words following are to lie down and accept his death.

Segment 6
Half move to get next to closer club guy.
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 12 in the chest for 7 damage
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 14 in the arm for 6 damage
Both wounds are bleeding fairly freely, but he is still up and prepared to do damage. Glandslag walks up between the club wielding ogres to lay hands on Perrol and chant something. Perrol is able to recover from his previous damage.

Segment 8
Jarlyn takes out the second ogre. The ogres we can see as well as some arrows manage to take down Perrol. He is

Segment 9
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 9 in the stomach for 6 damage
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 3 and miss
Glandslag walks over an buries his mace in one of the ogres. Perrol takes a ton of damage and is down and unconscious.

Segment 12
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 7 in the vitals for 4 damage, rendering him unconscious
Glandslag buries his mace in another head, but not without enough force to kill him. Ghoral kills one of the club guys on the ground. Jarlyn casts a glowing light around us and bashes in the head of one of the down but still alive axmen and also the last of the club guys. After some gibberish from the woods, Glandslag says that they are targeting Jarlyn. Two arrows fly past us all.

Segment 3
The others all take off into the woods after the archers and the mage.

Segment 6
I catch up before the others leave me behind again. Glandslag it not far behind me and asks if he should have stayed with the hateful one. I reply in the negative and tell him to stay with me.

We continue to run through the next turn, taking cover at each stop. During the course of this timespan, one of the archer ogres flees in fear for his life.

Segment 6
I end up running past the remaining archer ogre and hiding behind a tree have not quite made it to the two-headed ogre (shaman). Ghoral ends up right next to the archer and taking that spirit drain from the shaman.

Segment 8
Jarlyn breaks cover and runs to the archer. He cannot attack, but he is prepared to do so soon. Glandslag also breaks cover but this time to run and help Ghoral. The silly orc is concerned with helping us before his own safety.

Segment 9
Half move to be next to the shaman.
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 9 in the vitals for 6 damage
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 10 in the shoulders for 7 damage
He yells in pain while bleeding profusely from the groin and shoulder.

Segment 12
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 14 in the chest for 7 damage, ripping open his chest
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 13 in the chest for 7 damage, widening his wound and causing severe damage.
The combined efforts of the others in the party kill these remaining two, including the drastically injured shaman.

End Combat

We count the bodies and realize that we have killed 6 ogres and defeated another. Jarlyn heals me on request so that the arrow wound on my chest seals together. Glandslag goes over and heals the fallen Perrol.

We are currently in the temple of Hospin. Julienne meets us and we all head over to lodgings. Kross stays behind with Glandslag while the rest of us go out searching for a ship upriver. We find a small one that appears to be in decent condition. We make a deal that we will pay for the horses’ feed and act as marines for the ship. It will leave in four days and so we have time to wander around. I search for some new glass discs for a Talacoriom spell and find two for two silver. We have a successful and uneventful trip upriver. Once we arrive as far as we can go by water, we unload our gear and our horses and start camping along the road as we ride to Ytheis. I finally get a chance to use Yldevar’s Awl to secure the campsite at night. I’m woken up the morning of the fifth day when Kross, who was on last watch, hears someone running nearby. It is still dark, but then I hear a female someone starts to call for help. Jarlyn appears to be convulsing slightly but I don’t have time to deal with him bonking his ear. Glandslag heard the call for help and took off swiftly walking it its direction. Weapons in hand, but no torch, I catch up to Glandslag. Fortunately, Ghoral catches up to us and takes the lead since he can see. We are worried about this being a trap. Perrol and Kross catch up with torches and I get Kross’ torch so he can draw his bow. As the crying prepubescent girl spots us, she turns to run and trips over a briar. Ghoral takes her and, with his hand over her mouth, takes her back to the camp. Once she is surrounded by the party, he releases her and the group reassures her that she is safe and to calm down. She insists to us that her father has been injured by the horses/wagon and that we need to leave and help him. Last night they saw our campfire, so she knew there were other people nearby. With Jarlyn carrying her, we set out as a first responder party to rescue the dad. After only two minutes or so of walking, we arrive at an injured man on the side of the road with a small boy at his side calling for help. We heal him and then wait for him to wake up. Once he is awake, after he recovers from the shock of having his camp turned into an armed one, I suggest that we get on our wake.

We move around getting the ransom arranged and the three evil prisoners on our ship and under guard. Perrol, one night when he is guarding their door hears singing. We then interrogate them to try and figure out what it was. We are only able to figure out that it was the evil captain and that he seems to have been compelling the other officer to do something. We up the defenses we have and continue with them bound under stricter guard. I have retired for the night.

Segment 4
I wake up to Perrol opening the door before dawn with his saber drawn. Obviously something is going down, so I get out of bed.

Segment 6
Perrol steps out into the hallway and I hear the commotion of an attack. Then I hear a voice yell, “Whoa, Whoa!!” in a panicked tone. I emerge out into the hall and see that Kross and Perrol are fighting a crewman who appears to be panicking and surrendering. Seeing that they have the situation under control, I turn to watch for more attacks from the hallway. I assume that this man was being controlled as the evil officer reported when we were interrogating him about the captain’s singing.

Segment 9, or so
Perrol knocks the captain unconscious with the flat of his blade. He then gives a strong look at the evil people. He turns to us an reports that the magical brain he was sensing in the officer is gone and that there is a vanishing one in the evil crewman’s mind.

End Combat

We have a giant long conversation about whether or not to kill the evil captain. Perrol even has to go over and whack him on the head to knock him out again. Finally, after Jarlyn prays, Ghoral skewers him dead. As he is dragging him up on deck to toss the body overboard, we yell at him to cut off the head.

We are scanning the room for residual evil traces. Jarlyn says that there is some evil in the room that the bad guys came from. In there, we discover an unholy Book. As Perrol reports that it is not magic, although it is evil. Jarlyn believes he will be able to destroy it given a fire. There is also a chest. Upon examining it I determine that it is rigged with a poison trap that I’m able to defuse by removing the needle. I keep the needle until I can pitch it overboard. Since he is not fond of orcs, I go to relieve Kross on his watch over the unconscious Glandslag. He helps me get him over to our ship so that we can watch him in relative security. Eventually Kross leaves me to guard alone. Yet more time passes before Jarlyn comes to take over and I can join the group on deck. Before I can do that, everyone else comes down to join us. We discuss what will be done with the pirate ship and the pirates. After Perrol and Jarlyn go to talk to the captain of our ship and the first mate of the enemy ship, they come back saying that the deal is to ransom the ship and crew minus the captain, two officers, and one crew member who are truly evil. Perrol agrees to watch Glangslag, so I go with the others back to the other ship so that we can verify that the dead are still dead. They are. However, they have been searched while we were gone. When I search the bodies I find a poison tooth, and two pearls hidden in a seam of the priest’s robe. Kross manages to track some bloody footprints to another body, most likely our body searcher.

When the ships are joined together again, we find out that Glandslag had been injured in the fighting and Jarlyn is needed to work his magic. Once Glandslag is healed, he starts to go around and heal others of the crew who were damaged in the fighting. We split the enemy between the two ships so that we can get them all on deck to guard them. Kross stays behind to guard Glandslag while I stay to guard the enemies. Jarlyn, Ghoral, and Perrol go over to the enemy ship to check for traps, evil, etc. Suddenly they start yelling at us that there are people in the water swimming toward our ship using reeds to breathe. Kross calls me over to guard Glandslag while he shoots at this threat. I guard him as he keeps wandering round healing our people; I notice that he is not as powerful as Jarlyn appears to be when healing. On one of my scans of the surroundings I see Kross toss something to Ghoral as the three on the other ship, including Ghoral, jump into the water. Obviously there is something there that they are going to try and take care of by fighting in the water. Eventually, I hear Perrol yell from the water that he’s been poisoned. Glandslag is next to me and I ask him if he can handle that. The says that it’ll take a bit of time, but if it’s not esoteric or severely magical he can heal it. Kross suddenly jumps over the water, grabbing Perrol on the way. I yell at them to get over here. Once Perrol is on the deck at our feet, Glandslag starts to chant and pray. When Perrol starts to object, I tell him to stay put and let Glandslag handle this. It takes him about a turn to finish and for Perrol to look better. Jarlyn and Ghoral get out of the water, dragging a corpse with them. Then Ghoral and Perrol go below with the captain of the enemy ship to interrogate him about this situation. When they come back, I learn that there were two REALLY bad guys who are down in the hold. We mount a party to go and roust them out. Kross stays behind to guard Glandslag. As we start to go down the front steps, they are at the back part of the hold, I decide to cast Vornishak’s Mantle of Concealment to try and aid my stealth. The first glass disc I pull out fizzles in my grasp. I curse for a bit before pulling out my last glass disc and successfully make myself invisible. The others are visibly impressed. After going down the stairs and making our way toward the back of the hold, Jarlyn tells us that they know we’re here. I say that I might as well drop the mantle of concealment; however, Perrol points out that they’re aware of Jarlyn’s detect evil spell not the actual party members.

Segment 12
We are all waiting for them to move. According to Perrol who can see them that one of them with a sword moved forward.

Segment 2
We all move forward closer to the door. I go off on an angle so that I’m a surprise to the enemy.

Segment 3
Half-move forward for Perrol and Ghoral. My half-move is over on the diagonal still. Perrol signals that we may have been detected. It isn’t known if it detects good or all magic. After the door opens and a man with a large sword moves just past the door. I use the last of my move to close from the side, but am still not close enough to attack.

Segment 4
Jarlyn moves forward.

Segment 5
The enemy smiles and strikes out at Ghoral and misses.

Segment 6
Half move to reach Sword Guy, and see a glance out of the corner of his eye like he perceives me.
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 5 and miss
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 8 and miss again
Ghoral also tries to hit and misses. The guy with the sword starts to chant and the world goes dark.

Segment 8
Jarlyn clears up the darkness with light and attacks Staff Guy.

Segment 9
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 10 and miss, but I see a faint red nimbus around him as will
Staff Guy attacks Perrol and causes his to turn into a drooling, shambling husk who can barely stay upright.

Segment 12
I attempt to recover some of my endurance from maintaining the mantle of concealment. Ghoral takes a strong chest swing at the staff-carrying wizard. His shield drops and Jarlyn’s eyes glow with religious fervor as he sees the unholy symbol he is carrying. His strike completely takes out Staff Guy. Sword guy does a double attack against Jarlyn.

Segment 3
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 14 in the chest for 7 damage
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 12 and miss
Ghoral misses when he tries to attack.

Segment 6
Attack=Orunatiya DCV 17 in the vitals for 5 damage (I used 3 hero points to reroll a 1 into a 2)
He searches around as if to find me but is unable to and so strikes out at Ghoral. The first time he hits, but then he misses by a mile.

Segment 9
He strikes at Jarlyn, twice. The second time he loses his grip on his weapon and it goes flying past Perrol.

Segment 12
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 11 in the chest for 4 damage
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 14 in the thighs for 8 damage, he is starting to bleed profusely
Perrol runs back and grabs that sword. He has a strange look of glee on his face for a few seconds before he drops the weapon. Ghoral takes this opportunity to chop the arm off of Sword Guy. He falls down and his eyes glaze over.

Segment 3
I drop Vornishak’s Mantle of Concealment. Perrol picks up the sword again and he gets a look of evil glee again. He drops his rapier and holds the sword with both hands. I move as far forward as I can without loosing defensive strength. I see a blue glow from the corner of my eye, it is Grandslag and Kross.

Segment 4
I grab hold of my Skyfather boon and pray for that my friend will not be possessed. I start to glow with the blue light of the Skyfather.

Segment 6
I walk up to Perrol, pull the sword from his hand, toss it across the hold, and give him a hug. Glandslag enters with Kross on his tail and prays over the sword. Without touching it, he prays to try and destroy that evil weapon. I look down at my boon to find that it has morphed into the symbol of Salea and no longer has the magical/divine nature of a boon. The sword heats to nearly red-hot but does not set the ship on fire before it blackens and dies. Grandslag collapses; Kross doesn’t catch him.

The enemy ship approaches, from a great distance. We estimate that it will take another two days to arrive in decent range of us.

When it is, finally, about 600m from us a lightning bolt streaks through the air toward us.

Segment 12
Abort to Thasori. The others are doing the same without the martial maneuver to help them.
The boat gains about 50 meters on us.

Segment 3
Another lightning bolt comes streaking toward us and hits the tiller of the boat. We are not rudderless, but we have sustained damage.

Segment 4
The opposing boat moves another 25 meters.

Segment 6
Yet another bolt strikes the tillage and I hear cursing from the sailors near to the assemblage.

With Jarlyn shields Kross as he attempts to fire. They continue in this vein. Perrol eventually yells to us that they know where Kross is. I hear the bosun give the order to drop the sails and prepare for boarding (end of segment 8).

Segment 9
The ship is now much closer than it was before since our speed is drastically reduced.

Segment 12
Again, the boat gets significantly closer.

Segment 3
I try to estimate how close the opposing ship is.

Segment 6
Ghoral fires at the ship and reaches it but does not damage.

Segment 9
I see that the ship is within 2-250 meters of us. I pass on that information to the others.

Segment 12
We see that there is a globe-like shield around the mage. Perrol comments on how this appears to be a wall in front of him rather than a personal

Segment 3
I can tell that the enemy is nearly 150 meters away. From my previous estimates of distance, I can tell that they are moving 50-80m per turn.

Segment 6
The ship had moved on 4; however, it didn’t appear to really close the gap in any significant way.

Segment 9
Things happen, and the opposing ship is significantly damaged with the mage hit.

Segment 12
As long as we have a sailwright or carpenter and enough spare materials to fix the ship, we should be able to get underway again.

I can tell, that while Kross felled someone in the helm area, there is a lot of cover in that area. He felled one of the two people in that area appeared to be giving orders. The second person from the right is still upright. I also see that there is another person in robes emerging onto the deck. This I pass on immediately to my groupmates. The mainsail of the enemy vessel drops, they are within 60 meters of us. A new magical wall comes up and appears as a sheet of ice.

Segment 6
I can see well enough to pinpoint the captain and the heads of the two boarding crews.

Segment 9
We are now in arrow range. Dodge=Thasori. Ghoral fires the arbalest at one of the boarding leaders and kills him instantly. Random arrow fire rains down on us. One misses me by a decent margin.

Segment 12
Dodge=Thasori
There is another rain of arrows, and I am completely missed again.

Segment 3
There is increasing confusion in the ranks of the boarding parties. Ghoral aims at the second boarding party leader and fells him. He doesn’t appear to be dead, but he is out of commission.

Segment 4
Half move to get next to the boarding parties
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 3 and miss
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 6 for 5 damage in the right shoulder causing him to drop his weapon

Segment 8
We have delayed so that we can try to push back the hoard.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 9 for 2 damage in the head, he doesn’t fall
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 13 for 7 damage in the arms, removing one of them
Perrol attacks and drops the guy I’d hit in the head. Kross fires into the ravening hoard and gets some more. The others also attack and we make a significant dent in the boarding parties.

Segment 9
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 10 for only 2 damage. The others, with the exception of Jarlyn, also attack as well.

Segment 12
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 7 for 4 damage in the shoulders. I weakened him for Kross to kill. Suddenly there is a whistle from the enemy. They start to cut the ropes to disengage and run away. Our ship tries to hold on so that we can continue this fight and so that we can get back to our ship. However, that does not work and the ships start to drift apart.

Segment 3
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 5 and miss
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 5 and miss again
Most of the others use presence attacks to try and cow the crew of this ship we are on to get them to surrender.

Segment 9
Perrol moves forward and grabs the captain. Jarlyn relieves him of his weapon. The captain orders his crew to surrender. Perrol commands them to return us to our ship as Ghoral continues to collect their weapons.

In the time that we’re waiting for the guard, we take turns getting our things from the room while still leaving enough people guarding Glandslag. The town guard come in and take charge of the scene. Two orcs enter, big, burly orcs, who do the typical fan out and survey the situation. I recognize the next orc who comes in as the sergeant from the previous encounter. He pauses for a second and appears to speak to someone over his shoulder. Another orc enters and comes up to the table we are around, where Glandslag is unconscious. He turns and asks the leader of the previous detail, who is an orc, something that I don’t understand. After a conversation between the two of them, one of the guards drags of the unconscious attacker by the foot and all of the guards go away except for this captain (the fourth orc). Perrol turns and says that they know he speaks Thordarian and that the captain now wishes to know what we are doing now. We say that we would still like to relocate Gladslag to the boat, so that we know he is safe. We would also appreciate an honor guard from the tavern to the boat. One of the previous bodyguard detail goes up to get Glandslag’s belongings. We already have our possessions, but will have to retrieve our horses. The captain will obtain us a stockade wagon, Jarlyn, Glandslag, and I will ride inside the wagon with our horses tied outside while Perrol and Ghoral guard the outside. Kross has decided that he’ll take to the rooftops. After about 20 minutes the first wagon arrives. There is a ruckus, I would assume a dispute about who gets to use the wagon, before the captain backs the wagon up to the inn door so we can load Glandslag into it. Jarlyn uses his tower shield as a stretcher. As the door closes and locks, we are encased in darkness equivalent to a quarter moon. Jarlyn starts to glow, until we hear them yell at us from outside that the glow is visible. We cannot use the sunroof because it is too bright or the torch because it would be burning in an enclosed space, so we stay as we are. However, I do set the warning of Yldevar’s Awl on the inside of the wagon. It will not help us apperceive physical threats before they breach the wagon, but it will tell me if a ghost, spirit, or incorporeal demon enters the wagon. We make is safely to the ship. There, we are greeted by the first mate and installed in our rooms, rather bemusedly. Jarlyn takes the room with the still unconscious Grandslag and I get a room to myself. When we meet with the captain in the morning, we are informed that our client is royal, most likely the nephew of the king. That explains so much of the trouble we’ve been getting. I decide at that point to activate the Mirror of Obfuscation so we are not seen by distant, magical eyes. At noon on the third day, during my watch, Glandslag awakens. He is faking being asleep, but I am aware enough to recognize. I stick my head out the door and signal to the others that he is awake. I hear him groan and turn in time to see him attempting to sit up. The others come in and Glandslag jokes that either the world is moving or we are on the ship.

On the 15th day of our 60 day trip back to Tietha we spot an attacking ship on the horizon.