| Session Date | December 07, 2019 |
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| Base XP Gained | 3500 |
The party and Dwarven wagon train set out shortly after dawn into a cold, misty, snowy day. The poor visibility would hopefully aid their passage, hiding them from prying eyes and covering the unavoidable wagon tracks. This seemed to be the case, as the party made the crossroads they'd been aiming for shortly before sunset after a slow going day. The snow had covered the roadways, though marker stones and the clear path made things fairly obvious. After a brief discussion, the party decided to take the main road (the Dwarves referred to it as the Elf Road) that swung around the to the east rather than the lesser road towards the Old Bridge and the small town of Dolan. They went up the Elf Road for a few miles before pulling aside to camp. They again established a triangular defensive position with the wagons, with a much needed fire in the center. As they set up camp, ZZ patrolled for some distance around the camp site, his Boots of Tracelessness allowing him to move without tracks and his Elven Cloak making him nearly invisible in the dying light. He found nothing and returned to camp, where he proceeded to grind up several gems to drink a toast to the four Dwarves slain previously.
As the night turned towards day, the party and Dwarves heard wolves howling, and some of the Dwarf sentries could see wolves periodically enter and leave their field of infravision. The party opted not to try to hunt them down in the dark, but maintained extra vigilance for the rest of the night, which had grown much colder as the clouds and snow dissipated and left a bright starry night above the snowfield. As the dawn neared, there was no sign of the wolves, though many tracks could be seen. They seemed to have come and returned to the northwest.
The wagons now moved out as quickly as they might. With clear weather now, Iban levitated up at the end of a rope tied to a wagon (while invisible) and provided a cold yet excellent high watch over the caravan. It was not long before he spotted a few wolves paralleling their path at a distance, clearly shadowing them. Cadwallider and Iban now each cast fly and went out to dissuade their shadowers. Cadwallider killed one with magic missiles while Iban used sleep on two more, landing quickly to cut their throats. They returned to the party and Iban resumed his overwatch.
Not long after, the entire party and Dwarves spotted four large flying creatures approaching rapidly. They proved to be hunting Manticores that flew over the wagons and began firing volley after volley of iron tail spikes at Dwarves and party alike. Iban managed to drop onto one's back for a time, hacking at its back with an axe, while Cadwalldier used his wand of lighting to blast them one at a time. Meanwhile, Dwarf archers fired arrows at them as best they could (I seem to recall one hit Iban!). Meanwhile, ZZ and Mordecai ran amongst the Dwarves, healing them as they were wounded by the tail spikes. The Manticores were tough to kill,especially as they could not be engaged in melee, but they were eventually cut down one by one, the last ones fleeing only to be killed by spells nonetheless. Two Dwarves were killed in the engagement (I think).
As the day waned, the party reached the Elf Bridge that led into the lands under the sway of Manston. Though there was no sign of any trouble, the party decided to use the wagons to fortify the bridge to protect against attack from the south. Fortunately, they passed the night uneventfully, though ZZ once again crushed gems to toast the Dwarves slain that day.
The next morning the party set out as before, but not long after they began moving, the tethered Iban spotted a very large force coming up from behind them. There was a brief thought of returning to the bridge to fortify it once more, but the wagons were simply to slow to allow it. There was little defensible terrain nearby that the wagons could reach in time. So, the party instead decided to stop where they were, turning the wagons to form an L across the road - two wagon in line blocking the road and flat beside it, and one turned parallel to the road on the party's left (east side) to provide protection on that flank. The remaining dozen Dwarves, plus Floi, manned the roadward wagons. Iban used his Horn of Valhalla to man the left flank wagon, and ZZ used his horn to summon a party of evil Dwarves that were placed on the right flank, extending the line formed by the two wagon. Iban headed out to the left invisibly to flank while Cadwallider went forward in the center invisibly. Mordecai manned the left wagon with the Dwarves and ZZ stood with the evil Dwarves he had summoned. (See attached sketch from Twiddla -- like most major battles, it is really hard to do it justice in an AAR).
The enemy force consisted of three giants (two Hill, one Frost), a dozen Ogres, more than two dozen Bugbears and four Trolls plus a number of wolves. The Frost Giant was clearly not stupid. Rather than a frontal assault, he ordered his wolves to swing wide around the defensive position. meanwhile, his humanoids charged ahead in loose order, clearly trying to minimize damage from area effect spells. As this occurred, the giants began to bombard the line with thrown boulders, which proved to be exceptionally deadly this day (at least two Dwarves were killed by them, and others were injured). Cadwallider and Iban let the charging forces pass them unheeded and concentrated their spells (and later melee) on the giants. This drew some fire away at last to the spellcasters, though the accuracy of thrown rocks was quite impressive - Cadwallider (and Iban?) were hit during this time. Iban tried to Hold Monster the Frost Giant, but only slowed him (though this was most helpful). But, they eventually killed the Forst Giant and one Hill Giant, though not without taking many wounds themselves. In particular, after the Frost Giant was slain, two white wolves with it rushed Iban (now levitating) and hit him with breath weapons, almost killing him before he could ascend above their range.
Meanwhile, in the defensive line, the Dwarves peppered the enemy with arrow fire, though it proved to be largely ineffective. Soon, the enemy crashed into the Dwarves, climbing up into the wagons as the Dwarves shouted their war cries and laid about with their axes. The Dwarf archers, now that melee had begun, turned to fire at the wolves now turning around to fully envelop them. The enemy were numerous and soon the entire line was engaged. The Maerling warriors summoned by Iban took a particular pounding, despite their fighting skill - 6 of 8 would eventually be slain and the other two were sore wounded, as well. Meanwhile, ZZ and his Dwarves tore into the Bugbears and Ogres facing them, killing some and wounding others, though several of the summoned Dwarves were also slain. It was a sore battle, a hard fight to get clear of, to be sure.
The main battle was teetering now. Four more Dwarves from Khwarizm were dead and many more wounded. ZZ and Mordecai were both sorely hurt, as well. Iban and Cadwallider had spent all of their combat spells (and that was a lot for the latter!). And the wolves were rapidly approaching. But just as things looked their grimmest, horns began to blow to the west and northwest, and a hail of arrows assailed the charging wolves, breaking their charge and likely saving the Dwarves (and party). Meanwhile, the last Hill Giant was peppered with many arrows. The enemy, their commander already slain and now attack from unknown assailants, soon broke and fled back to the south. From out of the snowy fields the party saw many small figures wrapped in white emerge, a large force of Gnomish archers. They continued to fire at the enemy as they broke and fled, though many managed to escape (the Hill Giant did not, and fell dead, pierced by dozens of arrows).
The Gnomes now hailed the party and Dwarves. They had received word (somehow) that forces of the Giant King had crossed the Durn Flow and into their lands. They had come as quickly as they might, though Gnomes were not the lightest on their feet. They reported that the Giant King's spies had been prowling north of the Durn Flow for weeks, and the Gnomes had taken to hunting them down, fearing they were spying out the land in preparation for war. This was by far the gestural force they'd seen thus far, and it took them longer to muster sufficient archers to deal with it. The Gnomes were convinced war was coming and were ready to fight regardless of what the humans of Manston did...they would not bow to Giants and those that used humanoid monsters as their servants. The Gnomes, they explained, dwelt in the Carlin Highlands, a hilly region to the northwest of where they were now. They were friendly with the humans of Manston, though they remained independent of them. They would invite the Dwarves and the party to their homes, but said that they should have a clear path now to Manston and were safe enough to proceed. The party and Dwarves thanked the Gnomes profusely as the latter departed, disappearing again into the snow. The party and the surviving six Dwarves (plus Floi, who had proved to be somewhat reckless in combat once again) now reordered their wagons and turned north, back up the Elf Road to Manston...