Kingmaker Session Nov. 6th

Kingmaker Session Summary via Will (with proper name corrections by Brian):

Having survived the random encounter with three worgs from last time, our heroes rested up, and in the morning the cleric Raynor healed up the party (mostly, Telvin was at 50% HP).  Then the party traveled back to Oleg's trading post to recuperate, without incident.  On arrival they found that Telvin's mule Eglantyne had fled from the worgs straight back to Oleg's.

While there, a recent arrival told the party of a reward that had been offered for dealing with the Sootscale Kobold tribe (so called because their scales are soot-colored), who are ordinarily inoffensive but have recently been making a nuisance of themselves.  The poster that the traveler showed the party specified that a peace treaty would be welcome, but wiping them out to the last one would work just as well.

While at the trading post, Telvin requested that Oleg send for a new horse for him, to replace the one that was slaughtered by the worg.  Oleg gave  him a nice discount on a combat-trained horse, which should arrive in four days; and then even went so far as to rent his own horse to Telvin to use in the meantime, at the rate of 1 silver piece per day, with a nervous admonition "Not to let nuthin' happen to 'm now ...".

Dunk, having realized that he took the feat "Improved Shield Bash", expressed an interest in having his light steel shield equipped with spikes.  Oleg didn't have such a thing on hand, but he had the raw materials, and Grendel (who rejoined us this evening) made a successful craft check to install them in a week's time.

Telvin set about teaching the trick "come" to Eglantyne, but failed miserably.  He can try again in a week.   At this point, the party figured that 19 days remain before the Stag Lord will expect Kressle's group of bandits to pay tribute.  The party determined to go south and scout out the Stag Lord's camp to assess his strength before he becomes aware of the party's presence, exploring as they went.

In a day's travel south of Oleg's, they passed through two familiar hexes, and explored half of a third before setting up camp for the night, leaving the horses hobbled nearby.  The first watch passed without incident. During the second watch, a violent rainstorm blew up, making everyone in the party glad for the tents they had recovered from Kressle's camp.  The third watch was taken by our paladin, who proceeded to roll a 57 on his percentile dice TWICE IN A ROW.  The result was a group of THREE trolls, CR 5 each, right after a rainstorm that extinguished our campfire and rendered everything in the area soggy and unburnable.  Verdessa has fire spells, but only one per day, and NOT enough to take on three freaking trolls.

At the GM's prompting, we decided to mount up and run away. Boldly, like Brave Sir Robin.  Dunk ran to wake the others, and Telvin ran forward to slash the hobbles so the horses could move more freely.  The party came tumbling out of their tents -- Verdessa in her skivvies, on account of she can't sleep in medium armor -- and reached the horses about the same time as the trolls.  In short order all of the horses were unhobbled, except for Eglantyne.  Dunk the paladin, Raynor the cleric, Little John, and Grendel the fighter vaulted into the saddle and rode hell for leather into the night.

Verdessa mounted up mere seconds before the trolls reached her horse.  As the first troll arrived, she summoned forth a dire rat, which popped into being in mid-air and landed on the troll's head, then spurred her horse forward and circled a bit.  The troll could not reach it there; the second troll plucked it off its shoulders and took a thoughtful bite.  Meanwhile, the third troll seized the last horse, which Telvin had just freed.

The rat distracted the trolls just long enough for Eglantyne and Telvin to get close enough to slash the hobble, freeing Eglantyne to run for it (which she did -- straight back to Oleg's, again).  The third troll began feeding on the terrified horse, and with a growl of extreme frustration, Telvin rushed through the rainy night and flung himself up behind Verdessa, whereupon they joined the rest of the party in terrified flight – leaving the unfortunate horse to die screaming in the dark.

(Our paladin is the one who rolled the worgs last time, and he never gets to touch percentile dice again.)

Hours later they returned to the camp site, to find that two of the three tents were ruined, and the third battered but usable.  Verdessa's armor, Telvin's longbow, and everyone's bedrolls were untouched.

With the remainder of the day, they finished exploring the area, and happened upon small cave.  It was uninhabited, save for a small centipede which did not attack.  The party decided to spend the night there; and, having determined that the centipede was poisonous (though small), Verdessa roasted it with a spell.  At the back of the cave, Telvin found evidence of a rich vein of gold, which he revealed to the other party members.  He plans to write home to his dwarven kin in Highdelve to send a small group to establish a minehold there (with the understanding that the party will be entitled to a percentage off the top of any profits, assuming they agree to the scheme).

The following day they proceeded south, where they discovered an enormous sycamore tree, but one sadly afflicted.  The area had apparently been infested with mites.  Determined to save the tree, the party circled the area searching for the entrance to the mite lair.  They found a group of eight or so corpses, a mixed group of mites and kobolds, suggesting that the two groups have been fighting.  Finally, they discovered the entrance to the mite lair.  Telvin dropped down inside to see what he could see, with a stealth check of 18.