Adventurers
- Dulo Chaec (Magic User 1)
- Knuckles (Thief 1)
- Koko (Cleric 4)
- Mandras (Dwarf 1)
- Rarder (Fighter 5)
There was much discussion amongst the adventurers as they planned out their next expedition, debating how risky they were willing to be. Their ascent to the monastery was once again untroubled, their alliance with the ratkin evidently paying off, and they set up camp away from the site.
Their first priority was to assess the results of the poisoning, so they crept up to the small southern building and, with Knuckles’ lockpicking skills at work, slipped inside. There they found several furry, colourful-bottomed ape-like creatures strewn across the ground in different rooms of what had presumably once been a guard house, their bodily fluids now overwhelming to the musty aroma. The poison could be treated as effective.
Through the trees and across the complex, Koko and his retinue spied a trio of familiarly tall, obese humanoids sat outside a crude shelter made from the burnt out monastery’s stones. The company quietly split into several small groups, most hiding in the trees to pelt the beasts with spells and arrows as soon as they came into view, and one small band of the most heavily armoured strode forward to act as bait.
The trio spotted them and lumbered across the open ground towards them, though not before one called into the shelter to bring out three more. The adventurers’ hearts sank and the prospect of so many hard hitters, but the lure group formed ranks and slowly edged backwards to draw the beasts into the trap. Dulo enchanted the leading creature into a slumber, and then Koko bellowed forth a prayer to Mar Nod and the god of the random fortunes in combat smiled upon his cleric: four of the great figures toppled over, paralysed. The last monster standing was buried beneath missile fire, and the lure party easily dispatched the ones downed with magic.
While some of the party dragged out and divided up several sacks of coins and gems from the shelter, the others dragged the blubbery forms into the overgrown former garden and set fire to the bracken with a couple of flasks of oil. A cry went up from the stairway into the depths, and the adventurers decided to beat a hasty retreat. A flurry of arrows landed at their feet and one nicked one of Koko’s retainers, so the party loosed some missiles of their own as they withdrew. With satisfaction, they saw two hairy figures topple from atop the walls.
Their trip back down the mountain was as untroubled as their ascent, but when they returned to Redwood Keep they found Andrella giving audience to a battered remnant of another adventuring party who had found themselves set upon by a veritable army of undead under the control of some necromancers in the mountains on the other side of the river.
Koko thought it an excellent opportunity to make a few coins using up his unused healing spells.