Session 14 2013-09-16

39240XP Total for each Party Member - Level 8 (next level 50,000)

Please note XP awarded so far is for a moving rendition of Come Sail Away by Styx.

UPDATE: Combat XP has been calculated at 8800XP so far (1760 each) and total above has been updated to 39240XP.

Two achievements were unlocked (check character profiles for details).

Pre-Session

The Hand of Kali and Landra depart from the rest of the caravan for a brief time.

The Raider's Cave

Upon reaching the enterance, Cousin Wyrick begins describing the cave - the (guarded) entrance branches two ways, to the left is a makeshift kitchen, and through the tunnel straight on will be the main hideout and sleeping area. Past a doorway just right of this is Garrett's private quaters, containing some amount of loot and likely the man himself. BEYOND the main area is where the casters (apparently at the moment clerics) spend their time. He describes the operation - this cave entrance is relatively lightly guarded, the other entrance leads to a cove containing the Raider's ships and is more heavily guarded. One of the two ships is supposedly out at the moment. The cave entrance may have more to it; Wyrick described how every time Garrett guided raiders through it, he would stop at a pond there and get everyone to sing a song, about "sailing and freedom and the sea, and something about surprises". The Hunted discuss how to proceed and eventually move up the cave to this section to glean more information.

Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away With Me

The pond is fed by some sort of gutter, and The Hunted retreat to a nearby cave to plan further. Upon hearing Wyrick 's description of the song again, Kul'theras, Landra and Tharin eventually recognise the description and manage to recall enough to recite the song themselves, presumably allowing passage - certainly, nothing bad happens to them when they attempt to pass after that.

Kul'theras scouts ahead (while invisible), revealing a guard is indeed posted to see any intruders from this direction. He reports back and The Plan is set out.

The Plan

Scholars years later would dispute the details of the plan, but we can know some of the points: everyone was to be invisible. The Hand of Kali was to kill the posted guard, and Landra and Magni were to stand watch for any casters. Tharin and Kul'theras were to gain access to Garrett's room and kill him before his raiders knew what was happening. Wyrick was geased to "assist". After this, the party would try to mop up the rest.

Transcending The Plan

Coming back down the hall, the invisible Hunted find there are two guards at the watch-post rather than one. The Hand of Kali attempts (and almost succeeds) in taking them both out, but is spotted and the alarm is sounded. Several raiders are cut down, but after a few rounds all is chaos: Casters manage to flank the party, tentacle-grappling and lightning-bolting Kul'theras and Tharin, knocking the latter out. Tharin for his part had managed to loose a fireball at a group, moderately damaging them. The raiders use dragon pistols to alternately entangle, blind and roast many of the party, with varying levels of success. One raider, assumed to be Garrett himself, approaches an enraged Magni and manages to grievously wound the Barbarian's throat, silencing and suffocating him. All party members become visible, save Wyrick who has not apparently acted against the Raiders yet. No clear winner is yet apparent, but it is certainly not going all in the way of the Hunted.