Session Summary #12

Started by Nathan Sherman, February 01, 2020, 09:11:10 AM

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Nathan Sherman

The party has just made off with the skull of Saint Kelandor the Healer, having stolen it from the Basilica of Imarus in the early morning hours. They checked the map and find that now with Kelandors skull is in another realm in the bag of holding, the map now points to Storms Port in the boarder town of Duthelm.

They return to the wizards guild of Aridorn and meet up with Hessen as previously planned. Hessen has agreed to teleport them on to another destination in exchange of being owned a favor or a proprietary spell by Master Elodin. He tells them that the closest location that he knows a teleportation circle for is in Myranor, the capitol of Kitar.

The party decides not to waste any more time in Aridorn since the Church of Inthar might figure out what happened and hunt them down. They have Hessen teleport them to Myranor after just a short debate.


The teleportation circle of Myranor is located out to the east of the harbor on a section of rocky outcropping. There is a seldom used path from the circle into the harbor and to the gates into the town.

Myranor has an impressive harbor with many docks. There are large towers overlooking the harbor to provide protection in case of invasion. Much of the shore along the outer city wall consists of hard, sharp black rock with numerous caves and blow holes. Waves often crash spectacularly against the black rocks and jet out of blow holes. Small boats are often crushed between the waves and rocks during storms.

Lutheo grew up in a small town in the nation of Kitar. He educates the party on what he remembers of the nation as well as the little bit that he knows of Myranor from the few visits he had as a child before his parents disappeared on a mission and he was taken in by the Ynthar monks.

Kitar has the feel of a frontier. Hardy woodsmen, trackers, adventurers and wilderness guides populate the taverns and towns. Kitar is mostly a human nation, however, elves, half-orcs, half-ogres, and dwarves are also common with the occasional grum and saurian. It is not unusual to see borrellian traders on market day either.

Myranor is a large and varied city with a number of excellent inns and guilds. Like Kitar, the population of Myranor is a mix of hardy types - farmers, hunters, trappers, woodsmen, sailors, soldiers and mercenaries. Myranor is a strong community where men survive by their wits and their blades, but it is also a fair city ruled by a just king, King Davillon Arkain.

The Royal Palace of Myranor is the governmental seat of the nation, residence of the royal family, headquarters of Kitar's military forces and university all in one. Within the large castle is the main conference hall where King Davillon meets with his Council of Advisors.

Myranor is a very heavily fortified city. It's northern location and past history make it the first line of defense against Duthelm for all the eastern lands. For these reasons, Myranor is built to withstand a siege.

Myranor has two city walls - an outer wall and an inner wall - which divide the city into three sections. Both walls are immense things being 100 feet tall and 36 feet thick. A walkway runs along the top with crenellations for archers to take up positions and guards to patrol between guard towers. This city was built to withstand a siege and it shows in the walls.

The two walls divide the city into three sections: the outer city, which is mostly hovels and shacks; the middle city, which is home to shops and taverns, craftsmen and freemen; and the inner city, which is the sanctuary of the nobles, scholars, priests and the wealthy. At the center of the inner city is the royal castle.

The city is made up of sturdy buildings with stone, timber and stucco. Large eves help keep the rain off the buildings. Night comes earlier this far north and it feels a little oppressive having instantly come from the warmer and sunnier south. Fall has already arrived here while it is still probably a month away back in Aridorn.

The city guard keeps the peace in this frontier city. They patrol in groups of four (three fighters and one officer). City guard wear shining chainmail, very heavy cloaks (to keep out the cold), high leather boots and iron helms with visors. They wield broadswords and large shields bearing the standard of Kitar. There are no city restrictions on wearing armor or weapons. This is the frontier after all.

The party splits into two groups to move through the outer city and enter the gates of Myranor. Theren and Lutheo go in first with Akronos, Otep and Ceress following about an hour behind. It is just about noon when the second group enters the city. Theren and Lutheo go a few blocks in and get a room at The Tall Trees Inn, a nicer inn with good meals and comfortable beds. Akronos, Otep and Ceress take the first inn inside the walls, the The Creaking Mast, a decent inn with filling food for hardy seaworthy types.

The party take most of the day to rest up and practice their new skills. They meet up in the evening to discuss next steps. They send a message by scroll to Boazman and let him know that they left Aridorn and shall never return. He responds later in the evening with a short message of "Good to hear".

After some discussion they decide that Akronos should use his new Sending spell to contact Master Elodin and let him know they have succeeded in retrieving the skull and are now in Myranor to head to Storms Port.

Master Elodin responds back with "Contact Henrik in Myranor. He is ex-military and well known to me. He will help with the mission, no questions asked. I'll let him know.

The next morning they party gears up and checks with a guard station to see if they know who Henrik is. The guards don't know Henrik is but they suggest that someone in the Kitaran Army station might know who he is. With directions they find the army station and track down one of the older timers that knew him. He lets them know that Henrik is retired and living in the inner city district near the Black Square. 

The party heads up in two groups and each is met by the guard at the inner city gate. The guards have been informed by Henrik to expect them due to the contact from Elodin. The guards give them an escort to Henrik's house just off a market square with black cobblestones.

When they knock on the door they are greeted by a staff member who lets them in and takes them to a sitting room. He notifies Henrik who comes in shortly. Henrik a human wizard who is ex-military. He is about 6'2" tall and has broad shouldered with a full beard. A typical northman of Kitar. He doesn't fit what the party would consider a wizard but apparently he has a long history of friendship with Elodin.

He has spent many years of his life in the service of the Kitar military fighting off Duthelm skirmishers before retirement.

The party has questions for Henrik about Storm Port and he helps provide them with as much information as he can.

There has been an embargo with Dathelm for many years and the city of Storm Port sees many smugglers coming and going. It houses spies for both sides. The party will probably have to travel in by foot or wagon since shipping into the city from Kitar is illegal.

He can lend the party a horse and wagon but he won't go with them. He can also recommend a guild to help them, Zug, who served with him back in the military. He sends his servant out to notify Zug to come to the house.

Storm Port was lost to Duthelm in the last war and the loss is still keenly felt by those who fought the war. Storm Port was originally populated by people from both sides but during the Demon War 150 years ago it became a Duthelm town. Many in Kitar still feel that Storm Port is theirs but the feeling is no longer mutual.


There are no elves in the city of Storm Port and very few Saurians that aren't in the military as members of the Berzerkers.

Storm Port is a shadow of its former self. With Kitar owning and controlling the channel access to the ocean, shipping and trading with the outside world by sea ended with the Demon Wars. It is now the fishing capitol of Duthelm as well as a military outpost.

Storm Port is heavily fortified against invasions and has a large garrison of the Duthelm Military for patrols and strikes against Kitar or any internal uprising. The military plays a huge role in the economy with about 800 of the towns 8,000+ population being military, another 800 being military support personal. While probably 1500 of the population is tied into the fishing trade, the military is the main spender and even the main purchaser of the fishing trade.

The party asks Henrik about Hardin and he tells them that Hardin died behind enemy lines in Duthelm territory in the town of Storm Port. He was a native of Kitar before the demon war and returned there after the war to continue fighting Duthelm. He dedicated his life to regaining as many towns and lands as possible for Kitar and lead many army crusades into battle.

Storm Port was in many battles during the war, but it was the site of the last remaining serious offensive against Duthelm by Kitar after the war. After his death in battle there, Kitar didn't have the stomach to continue the offenses and an uneasy truce was called. Many boarder skirmishes still happen, but the two nations aren't currently at war, just enemies.

Despite its small size, Duthelm maintains a massive standing army and wields it like a machete. Any problem that arises - be it rebellion, incursion or other - is usually solved by sending out several battalions to ride out and slaughter the problem.

The armies of Duthelm consist of a ragtag miscellany of orcs, ogres, humans, goblins, half breeds and trolls. On the whole, they are unorganized and lack discipline. But what they lack in order, they make up for in sheer numbers and raw brutality. Standing out from the ranks of common warriors, are three groups... the Orcish Rippers, the Ogre Iron Fists and the Saurian Berzerkers.

The Rippers are are highly trained orcs known for their spiked armor and their whirling, rapid attack style.

The Iron Fists are are ogres that wear super heavy plate armor and wield huge spiked iron gauntlets. They close range with their opponents relying on their armor to protect them from ranged weapons and then pummel their opponents with crushing blows.

The Berzerkers are all harothi saurians that take aggression to new heights. They rush into combat with no regard for style, enter a berzerker rage and attack with suicidal ferocity.

All of these forces can be found in Storms Port, ready to raid into Kitar or put down any rebellion that rises in this part of Duthelm.

At this point, the door to the sitting room opens and a huge half-ogre squeezes through the door. Henrik gets up and greets him warmly, introducing the party to Zug, his former captain and now friend. Now Zug works for Henrik as security and all around muscle. He is a powerful fighter that uses a two great axes with ease and obvious joy. At the offer of being the parties guide Zug says in his broken Rukemien language "Zug happy, get mud between toes again! Piss on trees, sleep in the rain! Hopefully killing and much fun." Apparently the city is no place for a civilized half-ogre for long and he loves getting back into the woods.

Zug takes them on a supply run and helps them get outfitted to look like they are from the north. Akrons stocks up on empty wine bottles to fill up along the road to Storm Port to help with their disguise as illicit smugglers.

On their way to the city of Storm Port they will have to spend several nights on the road. The first four nights are still in Kitar territory and they are able to stay at small inns along the way. During these travels Zug asks Otep if he speaks the mother tongue and when he finds out that they share the language of Orcish they have a vibrant conversation. It turns out that Zug isn't as stupid as he sounds, he just has challenges with the over complicated Rukemien language.

After passing through the small town of Trails End they enter the neutral zone between Kitar and Duthelm and have another four nights of camping under the start before they will make it to Storms Port. On the second night of camping the party is ambushed in the middle of the night by a band of Gnolls, lead by a Gnoll lord, a Gnoll in a frenzy and three of their burrow hounds. It's a bloody battle with Zug getting dropped, Akronos's new spell failing him miserably and almost getting him killed and most of the rest of the party cut up at least a little bit before all of the enemies are killed, the last while trying to run away.

On the bodies of the gnolls they find 110 gold, 7 gems worth 50 gold each, 5 gems wroth 25 gold each, two potions, a Staff of the python and a Wand of magic missiles.

The next night also sees trouble for the party when during the second watch a troll charges into camp. Theren deftly dodges it by turning invisible and it rushes past him and attacks the sleeping Lutheo. The battle is swift with Lutheo being nearly killed and the party getting in some great hits on the troll to take it down in record time. The toss chunks of the troll on the fire to make sure that it doesn't disturb them again that night.

The next morning Akronos offers to split up the treasure from the gnolls. He says "Zug, you have been a great guide and powerful warrior.  We happily share in the loot.  You take 25 gold, these two gems and as many spears and the glaive of their leader if you like.  Everyone else gets 17 gold and 2 gems.  I'll take the wand and the rest of the items we will sell as part of our trader disguise.

By the scowl on Zugs face, Akronos realizes that his math might be off and he says "I should never try to split of treasure before my second cup of coffee. We'll split the loot amicably around the campfire after everyone has their coffee."

Zug says "Coffee Good!" and wiggles his toes in the dirt in front of the campfire. He goes back to gathering bones from the troll that didn't burn in the fire from last night and snapping them like twigs and tossing the pieces into the fire. He gives Akronos a big smile while he does that.

This is where Session 12 ends.