Pharast 27th - Stags Fall

Along with a stopover at Oleg's, during which time they retrieved some of the loot they had obtained over the last few weeks, the group also purchased some potions from the hermit-like alchemist; Bokken and benefited from a peaceful night’s sleep in preparation for a day full of bandit berating.

Miro tried his hand at using his neglected disguise skill upon himself and the rest of the group, attempting to make them all appear more dishevelled and wilderness-hardy, akin to bandits rather than the average adventurer.

Once they were ready, our bandit bashers saddled up with the "stolen goods" they had retrieved from Oleg’s and made their way south east, taking a slight detour before approaching the stag lords’ fortress in case they were being observed.  Whilst travelling the indirect route to the fortress, the group spy a large cave in the distance, but before they were able to investigate it further, a number of wolves plus a very large jet black wolf appeared out of the mouth of the cave and begin to sniff the air.  Otto and Kyrander advocated that the group hold fire on taking the offensive as the large wolf was actually a Worg, an intelligent supernatural wolf, although usually evil in intent, and the group had no time to take on this fight and then get to the Staglord’s abode that evening in good health. The group unanimously agreed that the downfall of the Staglord should take priority over everything else and continue their way west to the fort.

As they had been forewarned by Akiros, there was one path that led to the fortress which was located on top of a hill that used to be a monastery many decades ago.  The path sloped up the hill and on either side of the path were fields of grass leading all the way up to fort, though these fields were reported to be home to the ravenous undead who once resided here and were now cursed to attack anyone not approaching via the obvious path.  Not wanting to risk overplaying their hand just yet, the group decide to keep to the path and slowly begin to make their way up towards the fort.  As the group head up the path they soon notice a head peering over from a watchtower, followed by a shout of "Men Approaching!!!".  As they approach the gates to the fort are still obviously closed and bared as another figure shouts "Identify yourselves or be killed where you stand!".

Kyrander shouts out the pass phrase that Akiros supplied to them and fervently hopes that their trust in the staglord’s second in command had not been misplaced. After a tense moment of waiting in silence they could hear a creak of wood as the doors to the fort open, followed by "Welcome friends!".

Making their way into the fort’s courtyard, the adventurers in disguise are greeted by around a dozen bandits, each uglier than the last.  Akiros, the third strongest bandit in the camp is present, along a thin dark-skinned man sporting cultural tattoos, wearing tight leathers and a flashy rapier.  Next to him is a simpering hulk of a man that could have been nearly seven feet in height if he were not partially stooped over. In both his hands were little toy soldiers whilst a nasty looking club of immense size with giant nails embedded into it rested on a simple belt.  The most notable presence was that of a tall imposing man, in green and brown clothing and leather, brandishing a powerful bow that is aimed at the group and wearing a helmet made from a stag’s skull which covers most of his face "And! What do we have here? You're not part of my group!! ANSWER!! NOW!!!" the man demanded.

Vaneer quickly responded with "Great Staglord!  We have come to join your clan and have brought stolen items and fine wine as a gift and a demonstration of our abilities".

"Wine? WINE! Let me see" exclaimed the Staglord as he pulled out a bottle and pulled the cork with his teeth and chugging down a couple of mouthfuls, "Indeed! This is good stuff! The best I've had in a while!  If you keep bringing bottles like this then WELCOME!" he announced to a cheer that went up from around the courtyard.

The staglord scooped up an armful of bottles and proceeded to disappear back into the fortress leaving Akiros to order some of the bandits to put the rest of the loot with their stash.  Akiros approached the group and welcomed them to the fort with a wink.

The next four hours was spent with Akiros talking to Vaneer and Otto about the "rules" of the bandit group and the territories and domains that they had staked out, whilst Miro, Kyrander and Natalia innocently scouted the fort’s layout and talked to some of the bandits.

Miro strikes up a conversation with Craggers, one of the bandits that displays similarly gifted/sticky fingers and a disposition that nearly mirrored Miro’s own.  Through this, Miro is able to persuade Craggers to side with his group when the time comes and is also able to get information on the other bandits regarding habits and the likelihood of them being persuaded to join the winning side.

During the scout Natalia hears a strange hooting sound from a nearby reinforced pen only to discover that the Staglord has recently caught an owlbear and is trying to tame it, but is currently without success.  This leads Vaneer to come up with a plan that involves releasing the owlbear once a signal is given in hopes that it would provide a distraction and help drop the number of bandits present.  To this end Natalia manages to loosen the cage door’s latch slightly.

Eventually as night falls and the staglord has emptied out the supply of wine that the group had brought with them Akiros gives the signal that the group had been waiting for and the fight for the staglords fort begins…

Kyrander manages to subtly fire a shot from his bow at the latch of the owlbear's cage, successfully hitting the latch and unlocking it.  As the cage door slowly swings open there was a low whirling noise followed by a shriek as the owlbear charges out of the cage causing the desired chaos as the bandits suddenly rush to get control of the owlbear.

Miro and Craggers both quickly dispatch an unnamed bandit mook that they had persuaded to join them for a drink, away from the main group.

Otto casts a sleep spell upon a couple of bandits up on the fort watchtower, which takes hold.

The Owlbear gets its claws on one of its captors and rips the unfortunate human apart.

One of the bandits attacks Vaneer but fails to hit the cleric.

Kyrander shoots at the bandit attacking Vaneer, injuring the bandit in the back who then shouts at another bandit, ordering his to take care of the archer.  As ordered, the bandit shoots at Kyrander but misses the ranger.

Another bandit rushes to attack Kyrander and like his partner in crime completely misses.

A nearby bandit has no choice but to slash at the Owlbear and hits the creature causing it to shriek out in pain.

Akiros attacks the bandit attacking Vaneer and scores a killing blow.

Miro and Craggers discuss their shared interest in looting the fort whilst sitting out the rest of the ongoing brawl.

Otto casts another sleep spell taking out a bandit shooting at Kyrander.

Natalia shoots at a bandit and misses whilst Bob charges a bandit target, successfully biting his ankle and drawing blood.

The Owlbear slashes out at Vaneer but narrowly misses.

The bandit that had attacked the owlbear tumbles through the fray and makes a run for the front door.  Akiros chases after the fleeing bandit and kills him before he can reach the door.

Another bandit has the idea to run to the front doors and opens the doors up in the hopes that the owlbear might leave.

The bandit with a Bob attached to his ankle takes a swing at the Badger but misses.

Another rather overweight bandit, named Norry, seems quite content to sit on the edge of battle and munch on a turkey leg rather than get involved.

Otto casts magic missile at the owlbear hurting the creature.

Natalia shoots at the bandit attacking Bob and lodges the arrow into the bandit’s shoulder.

Bob continues to gnaw at the bandit’s ankle.

The Owlbear attacks Vaneer and hits the cleric.

Kyrander shoots at the bandit at the front door, his arrow killing the bandit and pinning his lifeless body to the wooden door.

Akiros uses himself as bait in an attempt to bait the raging owlbear out of the fort’s front door.

The bandit manages to free himself from Bob’s grip and with nowhere else to go attempts to jump out of the fort watchtower in order to escape Bob and Natalie in a spectacular acrobatics display only to kill himself by blowing his landing at the bottom.

Otto and Akiros throw a couple of bandit chunks down the hill which is enough to tempt the owlbear out of the fort, as it dispatches another bandit in a single hit and then shrieks and runs after the easy morsels, disappearing out of the door and down the hill path.  Just as the remaining combatants breathe a sigh of relief at the departure of the owlbear, from behind a curtained doorway an arrow flies out and lodges itself into the back of Vaneers back, dropping the cleric to the ground with just one hit!

Kyrander runs over to the fallen cleric whilst trying to retrieve a potion of cure moderate wounds from his backpack.

Akiros runs through and past the group and straight behind the curtained door where suddenly the sound of fighting can be heard.

Miro decides that with the majority of the bandits now deceased that it is a good time to get involved with the combat and throws a flask of alchemist’s fire at the curtain covering the doorway into the Staglord’s chambers.  Akiros stumbles backwards through the flaming remains of the curtain and then rushes back into the fight beyond the doorway but the group notice the arrow protruding from his chest as the Staglord seems to have the upper hand in the fight.

Only just able to move thanks to the potion of cure, Vanerr he wastes no time in aiding Akiros by rolling towards the doorway and casts a healing burst to help keep their ally going and can now see that the final opponent is of course the Staglord!

Kyrander moves into position opposite the doorway and attempts to shoot the staglord, only slightly grazing the bandit king.

Natalia sets out to summon forth two stirges (blood-sucking flying insects) to attack the staglord which is successful and manages to reduce the bandit king’s constitution, weakening him slightly.

Otto throws a magic missile into the fight.

The Staglord turns his attention to Kyrander and critically injures the ranger on his first shot and luckily misses Kyrander with his second shot.

Vaneer casts another healing burst to keep his party members from falling.

Kyrander tries to shoot back at the staglord but misses his target who is too fast for him.

Akiros takes another swing at the bandit king but also misses.

One of the remaining bandits decides to shift allegiances and makes an attack at the staglord but also misses.

Miro breaks out his highly-prized magical flaming arrows and shoots at the staglord successfully hitting and causing a good amount of damage to the big bad boss.

Otto casts another magic missile at the staglord, inflicting constant damage that slowly weakens him.

The Staglord attacks Kyrander again and hits the ranger almost bringing him to his knees.

Akiros takes the opportunity of the staglord’s back being turned enters into a rage, hitting and critically wounding the bandit king.

Sensing the staglord weakening the group make one last final push against the villain of the piece,

Miro manages to hit the bandit king and injures him further.

Vaneer attempts to cast hold person but the staglord’s will proved too strong and he overcame the effects of the spell.

Akiros deals the fatal blow and brings the staglord to his knees just as Bob charges at the falling man, finishing the job.

After taking a brief moment to regain their breath the group soon find themselves at a standoff with the remaining bandits, Otto and Akiros both step forward arms raised and attempt to convince the other bandits to drop their weapons and join with the party.

The discussions are long but eventually the bandits agree to leave in peace and some head to the village of Ravenmoor.  With the bandits now gone the group feel like they can relax for a minute and deal with wounds before looting the fortress of all it spoils.

As the group are looking around the place they discover in the staglords room a trap door with stone stairs leading down into the bowels of the fort and so they decide to make their way down the stairs to see what lies below.

The basement is a very large stone room with a spiral carved into the floor of the chamber.  This also appears to be the bandit groups stash room as there are many items of value for the group to rifle through.  Whilst taking account of the items they had found they suddenly notice a strange looking naked old man standing nearby who threatens the group should they not leave promptly.

Miro, trying to be threatening, mentions to the old man that the group will do to him what they had just done to the staglord upstairs. This of course angers the man who is the staglord’s father (a druid who blamed his son for the death of his wife and so tortured and scarred the lad for many years until the man who would turn into the stag lord grew strong enough to overpower his father, turning the tables and now delivering sound beatings on a regular basis to the man that abused him so many years ago.) and uses a druidic spell to merge with the basement ceiling so that only an stone face could be seen, he then starts throwing out spells at the party, attacking them.

Otto decides to throw a magic missile at the face hitting it square on.

Miro shoots an arrow at the ceiling and manages to hit where the rest of the party fail to.

From the ceiling the strange man summons forth an Earth elemental to battle the group and it just barely misses scoring a hit on Otto.

Natalia creates a magical flame and throws it at the ceiling shouting to the party that if they take out the caster then the elemental should return from where it came from.  In the meantime Bob decides to test the strength of his teeth and bites the elemental to little effect.

Otto casts another magic missile at the face in the ceiling.

Kyrander and Miro also manage to hit the emerged face in the ceiling and the combined effort causes the old man to fall out of the ceiling and strikes the floor dead.  The summoned elemental vanishes into thin air.

Now exhausted from the evenings battles the group decide to close the doors to the fort and set up camp for the night.