Game Night May 6 – A Narrow Escape

It was a strange week leading up to this Friday, since 2/3 of the party were knocked unconscious among a nest of juvenile fang titans. It didnt bode well. In fact, a round of emails went around about the possibility of ending the campaign or starting a new one. In the end, it seemed there was no consensus, so I was forced to come up with something… workable, and hopefully plausible. So sit back and hear the tall tale of how the heroes got out of this mess. The final reason being that it is rare for our group to have achieve such high level, and so we should continue on, to new heights of glory.

Returning to the morning of the fated fang titan encounter, we find Felipe stretching in the late morning sun. Felipe rages against the fates have in store for her, and sometimes she chooses to outwit fate by refusing tpo partake of her destiny, in the form of sleeping in. And so it was she awoke to find her friends had left without her, leaving a scribbled note behind “Gone to explore the hills – c u soon.”

Felipe sauntered along the obvious trail her allies had left, as it cut across the steaming jungle towards a mountain pass up into the hilly northeastern portion of the island. The halfling Friday came running p through the forest towards her to say that the pirate slavers had returned to campsite and were following along the trail, more than before. Felipe counted between 6-12 and decided she needed to hurry forward to warn the party. As she came to the steep pass through the spiny mountains, she heard a savage roar from ahead. She dashed forwards and almost ran into Hex running the opposite way, down the hill.

He was like “Fang titan – all dead!” pointing up the hill and she was like “space pirates – coming this way” pointing down the hill. Hex gave her a look like “Hey Im a githyanki to you know” and she shrugged and was like – “sorry!” Then they dashed into some bushes and rubble lining the mountain pass. Soon the fang titan rounded the bend, his head raised as he sniffed the air. From the other direction the githyanki slavers appeared and didnt hesitate to charge the beast. A savage but short fight erupted in which the githyanki were victorious. One gith said “this fight was too easy,” and he pulled a shaft from Poppy’s bow from the corpse of the fang titan. As one, the looters turned and dashed up the hill to find the scene of recent slaughter.

A mass of young fang drakes pawed amongst the wreckage of the party, but scattered without their mother to protect them. THe gith set about looting the corpses, each of the gith raider captains strapping on a weapon of the fallen – Skarn, Poppy’s blade, Thokks great axe, and the cleric’s whatever. A slave, kinder and less beaten in spirit than most, knelt at Poppy’s head. “They still breathe, lords.” he intoned. “Good, we need more rowers! Bind them and let us return to the boats.” And so by tying together four palanquins out of bamboo and vine, they began trudging back the wat they came. The enemy were too tough for Hex and Felipe to take on, and so they followed as the slavers returned all they way to a pair of boats beached at the mouth of the river near where it meets the sea. Beyond them the mountains that hem in the steamihng jungle on all sides were split as with an axe, and the river poured through this narrow breach and into a tumultuous sea beyond. They could just make out a swinging bridge joining the mountains beyond.

Along the way, Sharia’s spirit slipt from her body o mortal flesh, and she was dumped unceremoni0ously into the river. It burst into flame upon contact with the river and ashes blew away on the winds. Ria too lost the will to live on that journey through the foetid jungle, and when her body was tossed from an overhang, it was snapped up by a great fey crocodile, perhaps kin to the one that held her in its jaws the night she joined the adventuring crew. Only Poppy and Thokk remained alive and in captivity, and it was for these two that Hex and Felipe devised a plan to risk all.

Poppy met a helpful a pair of allies who were also recent slaves. An unusal elf hunter and an inspiring worlord. Even in the darkest of her moods, the warlord helped Poppy overcome her sorrow and look to the future. She also helped keep Thokk alive.

Hex and Fliepe meanwhil spoke with their halfling allies and had them craft them a simple boat, and so they rowed out of the river and across the savage breaking waves, where the rocky shores were littered with the wreckage of ships. They rowed trough the shark infested waters into the protected cove where the gith pirates had erected their fortified outpost. It was a ramshackle affair, composed of three buildings and a watch tower, with boats pulled up onto the sand for the most part. It was surrounded by a wall of stout sharpened tree trunks, with a single barred gate. The black sailed pirate ship rested in the middle of the smooth harbor, unable to come any closer to shore.

Hex, being githyanki, hoped to join with the pirates, and spoke of his lust for booty and slaughter. Her was welcomed in along with his faithful friend Felipe. He saw he camp was made up of one central house where the gith stayed, a round stone hovel where the slaves were kept, guarded by a huge zombie hulk, that looked like it was once a man, but bloated to epic proportions. Two vampire zombies stood outside the other mysterious house with red curtains over the windows, and where the cackling of mad women could be heard. Outside the gates, far to the east, a mountain wall rises up, and carved into its face was some sort of grand temple facade. It looked ancient and not of githyanki design.

That afternoon they learned that the ship of the gith once plowed the astral sea between worlds, but being damaged and stranded, they converted to more material piracy, and have been using the isle of dread for a base for some time. That night Hex is called upon to guard in the watchtower with another gith. Felipe poisons the other one, who asks Hex to finish the guard while he relieves himself. Hex wastes no time, but goes over and slips the key off the zombie hulk and into Poppy’s waiting hand. Felipe casts flame seed at the door to the mansion, Poppy opens the locked door, but she is pinned to the door by the zombie hulk. The inspiring warlord gave a command that forced the zombie hulk to rush forward, and allowed 3 of her recently inspired revolting slaves to charge the zombie. Then they all rushed out and locked the zombie hulk in, before racing to the boats.

Poppy made it to a boat, and two escaped slaves joined her, carrying Thokk. Hex made it to his chibi fanaton carved corcale, and the inspiringwarlord commanded the longboat with the 8 remaining slave. Even as they cast off and began rowing away from the pirate camp, the gith had yet to break free from their burning house.

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