Decaying Lands 40: Rain Rain Go Away

PCs Present & Played:

Barthelm Schade, Specialist (James)

Claus Drexol, Magic-User (Vegas)

  Phillip Bachman, linklad

  Lucien Courtet, infantryman

Tenkos, Cleric [plague doctor kit] (Sugarplum)

Viggo Pyreborn, ?? (Peanut Butter)

Teake's Teeth
Tinslee & Therese, Teamsters

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Expedition into Ghallia-That-Fell Day 4

Travel Summary
Expedition Day; Season Day; Weather; Hexes; Expenditures; Notes
Expedition 4; Fall 56; Incredible Winds ; 0821, 0722; 1ea ration/feed; half speed from wind

Sidenote: I've already removed the rations/feed listed out above (1ea) from all character inventories. Additionally removed 1 ammo from Joseph (A1), Agatha (A2), Claus, Tenkos, and Barthelm.

Next Watch Sequence
Finish Expedition 4 night: D A B C
Expedition 5 nigh: A B C D

Marching Order
1/2 of Teake's Teeth
PCs + teamsters
1/2 of Teake's Teeth

Watches
A. Tenkos, Timothee (I1), Indira (I2)
B. Viggo, Yvonne (I3), Basile (I4)
C. Barthelm, Joseph (A1), Sacha (I6)
D. Lucien (for Claus), Rosaline (P1), Cyril (P2)

Camp Setup: Horses gathered in the center, tied to trees or stakes. Rest of camp arrayed in a circle around them. Light discipline, no campfires or other lights.

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Last time the party began their expedition into Ghallia-That-Fell with a large entourage, declined to be tempted away from their path, got passed in the night, and lost a bunch of food (but no people!) to an awful thunderstorm.

Two players had to run a little late today which meant that the party direction was swapped decidedly around from last session. With Tenkos and Claus in control there was no telling what buttons they'd push and levers they'd pull! Unfortunately Barthelm came back before they could really start poking...

(-_-)

They were getting set to pack up for the day after long hard progress through the wind hammered woods when the rearguard sent up a shout of warning. Four thick, muscled creatures came bounding out of the woods behind them on all fours. Their jaws were extended and full of teeth and their blood vessels nearly burst from their flesh. Muscles bulged and strained as the four hurled themselves towards the nearest members of the expedition.

roar claws and teeth and veins and horns

They were close despite the party's vigilance because of the press of trees all around. After a quick look at the creatures, Barthelm asked if Edmond was yelling in recognition. He surely was!

Sidenote: I initially said they'd have to ask Edmond's player, then figured they'd just confirm after the fact so gave the immediate players the info. This was wrong because it assumed that Edmond's player would definitely have shared that information. Shouldn't have done that. Sorry :(

Normally we'd do initiative by sides and re-roll every round but with 20+ in the PCs party that was a little unwieldy. We did by group with no re-roll and came up with:

Enemy / monsters -> personal retainers (Lucien & Phillip) -> PCs -> teamsters -> Teake's Teeth

All four went after Margot and her horse as the closest of the three rearguard infantry, killing her immediately in their initial assault and severely wounding her horse. Teake's Teeth collectively roared in hurt but Margot's partner Cyril was utterly consumed by rage and devastation.

Phillip immediately lost his shit and bolted for the woods. He would have been lost to the party if not for Claus' timely warning that the creatures were hunters and would chase him down if he were alone. Score one for quick thinking. Lucien on the other hand went in swinging, albeit unsuccessfully.

Claus exploded one of the creatures with a tremendous magic missile, pink rays arcing from his hands to blast a hole through its torso. Where it landed the fluids leaked out and sizzled the leaf litter. Tenkos tossed some holy water, hoping to get lucky, but couldn't connect. Barthelm was hesitant to fire into the melee given the high potential for allied collateral damage.

Sidenote: James described the creature to Viggo's player, who had just joined the session, as "lickers from Resident Evil but with a Venom symbiote and acid blood."

LICKATUNG

When the Teeth got their turn they swarmed, killing another of the creatures and wounding a third. One of the remaining ones grabbed Margot's corpse and started running. The other bit her horse's neck clean through, dropping the head on the ground and chewing what it could. Almost everyone bum-rushed the closest one and whoever was left took pot shots at the fleeing monster (two 1s for damage), including a shot from Claus' pistol that erupted with a crack and scared off all the birds for half a mile. Finally they caught it on their horses and finished it off.

Sidenote: I screwed up when I rolled this and only rolled 1 HD of HP. They should have had more. This may have gone quite differently if that were the case, so fair warning to the players it should have been harder.

Barthelm mused that at this point he was probably the most responsible party member and that fact gave the party pause. They discussed how prior to dying Viggo was probably the most practical and responsible but now? They don't quite know what to make of him yet.

"Original Viggo very trustworthy, new Viggo oh my god." - Claus

They regrouped. They considered pressing on but the dark was coming fast. The Teeth gathered up bodies and Viggo started building a pair of pyres. No one who was still alive had been injured so they were still unsure what effect the creatures might have.

Tenkos approached the most intact creature and began to methodically cut into its flesh. It's bones were sturdy, thick, and wrapped in powerful muscles. None of the cuts into the flesh produced any acidic sizzle but his dagger did get blunted a bit in the creature's mouth.

Someone asked if it had teeth like a baboon and you know what? Baboons have awesome teeth. Kind of like that, but way more canines.

OMNOMNOMNOM

When Tenkos got to the creature's abdomen he started having problems with his makeshift autopsy tool. It looked like there was some kind of caustic, viscous liquid in a sack connected to it's throat. The faceless doctor's dagger was useless at this point, pitted and dull.

Sidenote: Vegas (Claus' player) shared his theory during combat that these creatures (and Edmond) are dnd-ified versions of the Abomination from Darkest Dungeon. The autopsy apparently only made him believe it more. As a rule I do not comment on player theories but it always brings me joy when they have them.

Tenkos gave Sergeant Teake the go ahead after he had finished his examination (Claus furiously scribbling notes over his shoulder) and she solemnly began removing canines from the creatures and distributing one to each of her soldiers.

They reverently placed Margot's body on her pyre and dumped the creatures onto the other one (with Margot's horse). Barthelm was concerned about the noise they made and the light of a funeral pyre but they figured anything and everything would already know they were there. He tried to find somewhere they could be a little more concealed but had a hard time in darkness so they setup camp a bit away from the pyres.

Cyril kept a vigil over Margot's pyre from the moment it was lit. Viggo appreciated the massive flames from both pyres at a respectful distance. The heavy winds and wet wood combined to create an awful lot of smoke, obscuring visibility.

D. Lucien (for Claus), Rosaline (P1), Sgt Teake
A. Tenkos, Timothee (I1), Indira (I2)
B. Viggo, Yvonne (I3), Basile (I4)
C. Barthelm, Joseph (A1), Sacha (I6)

It was during the third watch that Viggo heard a rustle in the bushes beyond his sight followed by hushed whispers in an unknown tongue. LINK went about it waking everyone up while LINK kept their bow at the ready. Viggo waited, unsure of what to expect, when a high-pitched voice issued hesitantly out of the woods in Ghallian:

"P-p-parley? No hurting, no murder yes?"

Viggo did his best to assure the voice that yes, there need not be any murder or hurting. It said it was going to approach and once more entreated Viggo to "no murder". Viggo could hear it rustling closer but also caught several flashes of eye shine as the being moved between trees.

Finally it came into the light, a half-size humanoid covered in fur, its whiskers twitching side to side and its hands all the way up. Yup, ratfolk. Claus and Barthelm exchanged a knowing glance, "Here we go again."

suffer my mediocre sketch after not having time for ms paint

Sidenote: There was a brief debate about which character would know Brian the Ratman from way back. That was the adventure that Heidi and Helga both died in way back in Session 6-7, a full THIRTY-THREE sessions ago. So yup, just Barthelm and Claus left. Mad love to Brian the Ratman's player for the two hour conversation we had hashing out their culture and motivations.