EotM - Summary
Jul 19, 2023 11:19:50 GMT -8
Post by Daos on Jul 19, 2023 11:19:50 GMT -8
Chapter One:
Incarceration!
It is Betrayal 22nd and the Dark Squall, now repaired, is sailing back toward the Blood Sea to look for work, as there was little to be found in the kenderlands. Sadly, they run afoul of a Minotaur warship. The ship docks with them and a commander inspects the party's eyes and then demands they accompany him to do an important task for Lord Myca on Mithas Island. Refuse, and the Minotaurs will slaughter the crew and sink their ship. The Minotaurs refuse to answer any questions, and round up the party. But Kaelestia and Arthogate ask that they take their jaguar and hunting dog, respectively. The animals are muzzled and placed in the hold, while the party are chained up in the brig. Before they are taken, Sha'al quietly gives Harbyn instructions to follow the warship at a distance and then hang back until they get his signal.
The warship takes them to Mithas, specifically the town of Thorador on the southern shore. They are taken to a prison cave and chucked in. They have little to do but wait. When night falls, three minotaurs barge in. Two inspect the eyesight of the party again, while the third lingers outside. After checking, they turn to the third one and nod, but he does not react. They then say out loud that their eyesight is fine, and the third one leaves, and they follow. The party speculates on what is going on and why they are checking their eyes.
An hour later, the minotaurs return. This time, though, they have a pair of red-haired gnomes with them. The gnomes use string to measure the party's necks. The party asks why, and before they can say more beyond introducing themselves--Parmelion and Zast, twin brothers--the guards interrupt them. The gnomes finish up and are then ushered out with the guards, leaving the party alone again. They wonder why they were measuring their necks, and worry it's for a noose. But Granker suspects its for collars.
An hour later, they have a visitor. None other than a young kender digs through the floor and enters their cell. He introduces himself as Bennybeck Cloudberry (AKA Benny) and explains that he has a magic shovel he got from his prospecting grandfather. He stowed away on a ship that turned out to be a minotaur vessel, so they threw him in the cave. But he's been digging around. There's a lot of bedrock around that limits where he can go, though. He also knows about Lord Myca. That apparently he went blind somehow and has to fight someone's mother, but that just confuses the party further.
Benny did dig a tunnel to the arena, though, and offers to show it to the party if they want since it's relatively unguarded at night. After waiting for the sun to go down, he leads them to the a weed-filled field just outside the arena. It is guarded by a single overweight minotaur. Benny shows the party some discarded tree branches in the weeds that were left over when the minotaurs cut down all of the nearby trees to make ships. They use them as clubs, so Benny lures the guard into the weeds and they all jump him.
The fight is long and arduous, even after all of the curses the two priests place on him. He fights like a madman, though, and even after they manage to disarm him, he continues using his horns to fight. Eventually they defeat him, though. From there, Benny can easily pick the lock on the arena gate and the party enters.
The arena is something of a maze of obstacles. It's also pitch-black, as it's currently inactive. Kaelestia lights a candle so the party can see better, and they discover an alcove with a metal ring encased in the wall, but can't determine what purpose it holds. Sumina notices some animal scratches near the base.
Moving on, they find more obstacles, including water pits, crevasses, hooks hanging from the ceiling and so forth. After exploring the entire region, they bury the items Benny brought in an alcove, and then decide to return to their cells before their absence is noticed. They make it back to their cells without any trouble.
The following day, they are woken up and fed a bunch of gross but nourishing slop for breakfast. Afterward, they are escorted to the arena for their big fight. As they pass by the crowds, they hear spectators betting against Myca. The bets increase when they realize the party is fighting on his side. They also meet Myca's opponents--Ma Mable and her three adolescent sons. Although young, they each have some kind of alteration done to them. One has a thicker hide than normal, leaving him with green fur. Another has teeth that have been sharpened into fangs. The third has some kind of venomous horns. They taunt Myca before heading off to the other side of the arena. Meanwhile, the two gnome slaves chain the party to Myca and quickly (as per gnomish custom) go over what is happening. Ma Mable has challenged Myca for leadership, but Myca has recently gone blind. The party is to be chained to him to help him fight, serving as sort of seeing eye dogs but also attack dogs. They are given their weapons back, then sent into the arena.
They find the place is well lit now. They reach the first alcove and discover Krenari and Arthogate's hunting dog, Rexxar, chained to the wall. Both appear charmed and try to attack the party, not recognizing them or obeying their commands. Kaelestia places her own charm on Krenari, which overrides the previous charm. However, the hound continues to attack. The party tries to ignore it, but it bites Sumina. They then use their weapons non-lethally to drive the dog back. Before moving on, though, Kaelestia insists on searching the dead body. She finds a key and is able to free Krenari, but takes two bites from Rexxar in the process.
The party continues forward toward the water pit. At this point, the three Mabel Boys attack, and in the process wake up the giant octopus in the water. The party ignores the octopus to face the minotaurs, but the octopus proves the real threat. It grapples most of the party, significantly hindering them. The party manages to cut off three of its tentacles, though, causing it to retreat back into the water. The three minotaur boys then withdraw, as well; splitting up. Two take the southeast tunnel with the hooks covered in snakes, while the third takes the northeast tunnel. Lord Myca demands the party pursue them.
Granker chooses the southeast tunnel, despite all of the snakes. The party attempts to crawl under them, but Granker is too large and gets bitten several times, suffering damage. When they reach the other side of the snake hooks, they find the two Mabel boys waiting for them. They attack, calling for their ma to help them. Kaelestia magically wards the other end of the tunnel, assuming they will come from there. But Ma and her other son actually show up from the snake hook section, only after Granker kills most of the serpents for them by accident.
The party manages to defeat all four of the Mabel brood in large thanks to Kaelestia blinding two of them and Sha'al using two of those new javelins (which turned into lightning bolts) to blast them. Lord Myca is beside him with glee for winning the fight. He agrees to release the party now...if they swear an oath to Sargonnas that he was the one who dealt the killing blow to the Mabels. Kaelestia and Arthogate are fine with this, but Sha'al, Sumina and Granker feel it is an insult to their honor and decide to just kill Myca, who they see as helpless anyway.
The entire party joins in, but as Lord Myca is outnumbered and blind, they cut him down fairly quickly. Kaelestia is optimistic the minotaurs will be quite understanding that the party just killed their leader and suggests they ask to be released. Sumina searches Myca for keys, but can't find any. They are chained to his rather massive corpse still, as well as to each other. Sumina chops off Myca's arm to at least free them from him, then the party retrieves their hidden stash of items.
They also discuss their plan on getting free. Granker suggests they simply tell the Thoradorians that they fought Myca in honorable combat and slew him; which as far as Granker was concerned, meant they had won the tournament and were the new leaders. Sumina is pretty skeptical that it will work that way. Kaelestia also raises the idea of shapechanging into a minotaur, but her slave collar is still on and expanding her neck might choke her.
Kaelestia then comes up with another idea. Send Sha'al into the water pit. Sumina reasons that if an octopus lived there, it must be salt water, which means it might lead to the ocean. Sha'al agrees and dives in, and as it turns out, the pit does lead out into the ocean. There he spots a patrol of Dimernesti and convinces them to help. One of them is a cleric and can cast Water Breathing. Working together, they help the party swim out into the ocean and then off to their ship, which is still waiting for them after having followed the minotaur vessels at a safe distance on Sha'al's orders.
Free and back on board, the party quickly sets sail to get as far away from Thorador as possible.
Incarceration!
It is Betrayal 22nd and the Dark Squall, now repaired, is sailing back toward the Blood Sea to look for work, as there was little to be found in the kenderlands. Sadly, they run afoul of a Minotaur warship. The ship docks with them and a commander inspects the party's eyes and then demands they accompany him to do an important task for Lord Myca on Mithas Island. Refuse, and the Minotaurs will slaughter the crew and sink their ship. The Minotaurs refuse to answer any questions, and round up the party. But Kaelestia and Arthogate ask that they take their jaguar and hunting dog, respectively. The animals are muzzled and placed in the hold, while the party are chained up in the brig. Before they are taken, Sha'al quietly gives Harbyn instructions to follow the warship at a distance and then hang back until they get his signal.
The warship takes them to Mithas, specifically the town of Thorador on the southern shore. They are taken to a prison cave and chucked in. They have little to do but wait. When night falls, three minotaurs barge in. Two inspect the eyesight of the party again, while the third lingers outside. After checking, they turn to the third one and nod, but he does not react. They then say out loud that their eyesight is fine, and the third one leaves, and they follow. The party speculates on what is going on and why they are checking their eyes.
An hour later, the minotaurs return. This time, though, they have a pair of red-haired gnomes with them. The gnomes use string to measure the party's necks. The party asks why, and before they can say more beyond introducing themselves--Parmelion and Zast, twin brothers--the guards interrupt them. The gnomes finish up and are then ushered out with the guards, leaving the party alone again. They wonder why they were measuring their necks, and worry it's for a noose. But Granker suspects its for collars.
An hour later, they have a visitor. None other than a young kender digs through the floor and enters their cell. He introduces himself as Bennybeck Cloudberry (AKA Benny) and explains that he has a magic shovel he got from his prospecting grandfather. He stowed away on a ship that turned out to be a minotaur vessel, so they threw him in the cave. But he's been digging around. There's a lot of bedrock around that limits where he can go, though. He also knows about Lord Myca. That apparently he went blind somehow and has to fight someone's mother, but that just confuses the party further.
Benny did dig a tunnel to the arena, though, and offers to show it to the party if they want since it's relatively unguarded at night. After waiting for the sun to go down, he leads them to the a weed-filled field just outside the arena. It is guarded by a single overweight minotaur. Benny shows the party some discarded tree branches in the weeds that were left over when the minotaurs cut down all of the nearby trees to make ships. They use them as clubs, so Benny lures the guard into the weeds and they all jump him.
The fight is long and arduous, even after all of the curses the two priests place on him. He fights like a madman, though, and even after they manage to disarm him, he continues using his horns to fight. Eventually they defeat him, though. From there, Benny can easily pick the lock on the arena gate and the party enters.
The arena is something of a maze of obstacles. It's also pitch-black, as it's currently inactive. Kaelestia lights a candle so the party can see better, and they discover an alcove with a metal ring encased in the wall, but can't determine what purpose it holds. Sumina notices some animal scratches near the base.
Moving on, they find more obstacles, including water pits, crevasses, hooks hanging from the ceiling and so forth. After exploring the entire region, they bury the items Benny brought in an alcove, and then decide to return to their cells before their absence is noticed. They make it back to their cells without any trouble.
The following day, they are woken up and fed a bunch of gross but nourishing slop for breakfast. Afterward, they are escorted to the arena for their big fight. As they pass by the crowds, they hear spectators betting against Myca. The bets increase when they realize the party is fighting on his side. They also meet Myca's opponents--Ma Mable and her three adolescent sons. Although young, they each have some kind of alteration done to them. One has a thicker hide than normal, leaving him with green fur. Another has teeth that have been sharpened into fangs. The third has some kind of venomous horns. They taunt Myca before heading off to the other side of the arena. Meanwhile, the two gnome slaves chain the party to Myca and quickly (as per gnomish custom) go over what is happening. Ma Mable has challenged Myca for leadership, but Myca has recently gone blind. The party is to be chained to him to help him fight, serving as sort of seeing eye dogs but also attack dogs. They are given their weapons back, then sent into the arena.
They find the place is well lit now. They reach the first alcove and discover Krenari and Arthogate's hunting dog, Rexxar, chained to the wall. Both appear charmed and try to attack the party, not recognizing them or obeying their commands. Kaelestia places her own charm on Krenari, which overrides the previous charm. However, the hound continues to attack. The party tries to ignore it, but it bites Sumina. They then use their weapons non-lethally to drive the dog back. Before moving on, though, Kaelestia insists on searching the dead body. She finds a key and is able to free Krenari, but takes two bites from Rexxar in the process.
The party continues forward toward the water pit. At this point, the three Mabel Boys attack, and in the process wake up the giant octopus in the water. The party ignores the octopus to face the minotaurs, but the octopus proves the real threat. It grapples most of the party, significantly hindering them. The party manages to cut off three of its tentacles, though, causing it to retreat back into the water. The three minotaur boys then withdraw, as well; splitting up. Two take the southeast tunnel with the hooks covered in snakes, while the third takes the northeast tunnel. Lord Myca demands the party pursue them.
Granker chooses the southeast tunnel, despite all of the snakes. The party attempts to crawl under them, but Granker is too large and gets bitten several times, suffering damage. When they reach the other side of the snake hooks, they find the two Mabel boys waiting for them. They attack, calling for their ma to help them. Kaelestia magically wards the other end of the tunnel, assuming they will come from there. But Ma and her other son actually show up from the snake hook section, only after Granker kills most of the serpents for them by accident.
The party manages to defeat all four of the Mabel brood in large thanks to Kaelestia blinding two of them and Sha'al using two of those new javelins (which turned into lightning bolts) to blast them. Lord Myca is beside him with glee for winning the fight. He agrees to release the party now...if they swear an oath to Sargonnas that he was the one who dealt the killing blow to the Mabels. Kaelestia and Arthogate are fine with this, but Sha'al, Sumina and Granker feel it is an insult to their honor and decide to just kill Myca, who they see as helpless anyway.
The entire party joins in, but as Lord Myca is outnumbered and blind, they cut him down fairly quickly. Kaelestia is optimistic the minotaurs will be quite understanding that the party just killed their leader and suggests they ask to be released. Sumina searches Myca for keys, but can't find any. They are chained to his rather massive corpse still, as well as to each other. Sumina chops off Myca's arm to at least free them from him, then the party retrieves their hidden stash of items.
They also discuss their plan on getting free. Granker suggests they simply tell the Thoradorians that they fought Myca in honorable combat and slew him; which as far as Granker was concerned, meant they had won the tournament and were the new leaders. Sumina is pretty skeptical that it will work that way. Kaelestia also raises the idea of shapechanging into a minotaur, but her slave collar is still on and expanding her neck might choke her.
Kaelestia then comes up with another idea. Send Sha'al into the water pit. Sumina reasons that if an octopus lived there, it must be salt water, which means it might lead to the ocean. Sha'al agrees and dives in, and as it turns out, the pit does lead out into the ocean. There he spots a patrol of Dimernesti and convinces them to help. One of them is a cleric and can cast Water Breathing. Working together, they help the party swim out into the ocean and then off to their ship, which is still waiting for them after having followed the minotaur vessels at a safe distance on Sha'al's orders.
Free and back on board, the party quickly sets sail to get as far away from Thorador as possible.