Chapter 18 - The Wing that Hunts
Contents
About the Saga
The Griffins finally escape the Drowned Plain and enter the western edge of the Verdant Waste. Upon doing so they find themselves head to head with "The Wing That Hunts", the kobold minions of the Green Blight.
Timeframe
- Campaign Date: Floctime 2, CY 515
- Real World Date: Oct. 18, 2015
- Read other Obsidian Frontier Sagas
Cast of Characters
- Burgell Nackle (Damon), a gnome bard with dubious ethics
- Fargrim Frostbeard (Damon), dwarven cleric of Muamman Duathal
- Finn Underbow (Jim), a halfling ranger
- Hawkwind (Nate), human warrior on the edge of time
- Tänévir Calywyn (Nate), a young elven ranger who has come to apprentice with Súlimëtasar of the Griffins Guild
- Telthanas (NPC), a half-elven adventurer scribe of the Griffins Guild
- Hank Ironvow (NPC), male half-orc fighter 3
- Shump Bloodoath (NPC), male half-orc fighter 3
Notable Quotes
- None
What Has Come Before
Our heroes are on a quest to put an end to the Green Blight, a dragon who has taken over a portal to the Feywild located deep within the Verdant Waste. Leaving from Obsidian Bay, they made their way east, taking a southerly route along the shoreline to avoid the elemental vortex (and resulting storms) they'd inadvertently opened to the north. Doing so also allowed them to avoid many of the dangers of the Drowned Plain, an overgrown wilderness of briars, thorns, and scraggly trees that sees frequent flooding during the hurricane season (or after someone inadvertently summoned persistent thunderstorm over the Dire Downs).
Their way was not without danger though -- they slew a iron-clad gorgon in the Death's Breath Forest, then defeated a chimera that had been hunting along the coast line. The journey has been arduous, but their destination -- the rampant tropical forest of the Verdant Waste -- lies mere hours away.
The Saga
Flocktime 2
After an eventful day fighting a chimera, the rest of Flocktime 2 passed uneventfully.
Flocktime 3
The group awoke on Flocktime 3 to the sight of rain gathering in the west. Sensing the storm would be a major one, the heroes fled to the east, evading another flight of hunting griffins. They arrived at the hills that marked the edge of the Drowned Plain just as the storm hit full force.
Desperately scouting for shelter, the found a cave ... and a cyclops defending it. Assuming the creature was evil, the Griffins' half-orc mercenaries raced to engage the cyclops. The elf Tanevir cut off the creature's escape with a briarthorns spell while Burgell cast farie fire to illuminate the giant in the driving rain. Hawkwind ran up the slope after the mercenaries and engages the cyclops directly. Telthanas, knowing his roll in the combat, held back and peppered the creature with crossbow bolts.
The Griffins were soon fully engaged with the cyclops, driving it back into its cave. Talthanas hung back, worried that someone -- or somethings -- might attempt to attack the party from behind.
He was right. Straining to hear against the storm, he picked up the faint clicking sound of reptilian claws on stone. Whirling around, he found two reptilian dinosaurs ready to attack.
The creatures lunged out of the rain and attacked, knocking down Talthanas and engaging his dwarven companion Fargrim. Horrified, Talthanas tried to crawl away, but ran into two more of the dinosaurs. The monsters attacked, nearly killing the half-elf while two more moved to flank the group from the right.
Meanwhile, in the cave the rest of the Griffins had defeated the cyclops and finally realized there was another threat inside. They launched a counter attack, beating up on the dinosaurs until the creatures were battered, bloodied, and unwilling to continue the fight. They fled back out into the storm.
After the fight adventurers retreated into the cave. The found that the cyclops' maintained a small sheep pen, complete with sheep. They broke down the wooden pen and used it to build a fire. The sheep, of course, provided dinner.
Further examination of the cave revealed the cyclops' treasure in a stinking burlap bag: 150 Gold, a Potion of Greater Restoration, and a Potion of Greater Healing. They also discovered the thigh bone of an axebeak that the cyclops was carving into a vaguely feminine form.
After confirming the cave was secure, they threw the corpse of the cyclops down the hill and then hunkered down for the night.
Flocktime 3
The night passes uneventfully. The heroes awaken to find the storm continuing. It rages throughout the day. At mid-day Hawkwind predicted the future and saw it will continue raining. Meanwhile Tanevir and Finn try to better understand the nature of the fey, and focus on the strange disturbance to the east. This results in twin mental spikes to their brains as they sense the overwhelming nature of the feywild.
Realizing there was nothing to gain in staying in the cave and trying to wait out the storm, the Griffins decided to try their luck scaling the hill and crossing over into the Verdant Waste.
The region lived up to its name. The land to the lee of the hills was massively overgrown, with vines, trees, and thorns that sought to grab them at every turn. An indeterminate amount of time later -- hours? days? -- they emerged to find themselves at the edge of a slow-moving stream.
It looked to be no more than a foot or so deep, with the occasional rock breaking its surface. Its banks were muddy and bordered by more of the hateful undergrowth they'd come to loathe. Trees, some 50 to 60 feet tall, greedily drank from the stream, their roots jutting out into it. Still, it looked to be easier going than what they'd just passed through.
As they made their way down the slow-moving stream, they heard the sound of flapping wings. At first they thought it might be the Green Blight itself, but then they saw the source of the noise: a flight of 10 winged kobolds led by a large, human-sized kobold with dark green scales and a decidedly draconic snout.
It was the The Wing that Hunts, and the creatures quickly turned to attack the heroes. The Wing That Hunts flew over the heroes, bombarding them with vials that broke open to reveal clouds of noxious, burning gas. Meanwhile their leader -- a half-dragon flying kobold named Achuakoth (aka "The Green Tooth") -- unleashed a corrosive gas breath weapon on the party.
The heroes struck back, unleashing arrows and spells against the kobolds. A few dropped to the ground, allowing the adventurers to close and quickly finish their attackers. The rest of the kobolds tried to escape to report back to the Green Blight; all but one died in the attempt. The last one flew off into the murk of the Verdant Expanse to warn its master.
Time-lost Explorers
The heroes pressed on deeper into the outer band of the Verdant Waste. In doing so they come across a group of adventurers in outdated garb. They introduced themselves as Pfain the Fearless, male human rogue and leader of the party, Fairig, a male human soldier, and Ilina, a young male half-elf wizard and cleric of Dalt. They explained that they were a team of explorers dispatched by Erkin, "King of the Drachensgrabs", to explore the southeastern Pomarj. They were looking for exotic trade goods: rugs made from owl bears, skins from giant reptiles, huge examples of rare hardwoods, hints of mineral deposits.
The three adventurers were convinced that the actual date was several hundred years in the past and didn't believe when the Griffins explained the actual date was in the early 500s. Alarmed, and somewhat angered, the time-lost explorers said they'd prove the Griffins wrong by leaving the Verdant Waste and making contact with the real world.
The Wild Hunt
After defeating the kobolds, the adventurers proceeded deeper into the Verdant Waste, eventually finding themselves in a small clearing. Trees, their branches intertwined for hundreds of feet, towered overhead to create a vaulted ceiling. The hellish underbrush that so defined the region had abated somewhat.
As the group paused to take in the sudden expanse of space, a great stag -- easily the size of a large horse -- bounded into the clearing. Its rack of horns easily spanned 10 feet, and its heavily muscled hunches make it clear that this was a creature that can leap over or push through any obstacle. It stopped to look in the Griffins direction, taking them in with huge intelligent eyes. Then it lifted its head as though hearing some far off sound, flicked its tail and raced off down a game trail.
Intoxicated with the power of the feylands, Tanevir immediately took off after the stag, Hawkind following quickly behind. "It's the great hunt," Tanevir said, "we must catch that stag!".
Although the rest of the adventurers followed Tanevir and Hawkwind as best they could, the gap between them and the rest of the group continued to grow. Near the rear of the pack, Fargrim -- huffing and puffing as only a dwarf on a long distance run can -- heard something ominous: the faint trilling of hunting horns.
Something else was hunting the Great Stag. And maybe them as well.
The heroes ran.
In the lead, Tanevir and Hawkwind dodged animate trees, falling branches, groping vines, and other hazards of the Verdant Waste. They paused from time to time to catch their bearings. They could hear the far off cries of their friends struggling to keep up, but cared less the closer they got to the Great Stag.
The heroes had problems of their own though as the hunting horns grew closer. Now they could hear the tree branches straining behind them, and then suddenly two great panther-like creatures leapt upon them. The things seemed to shimmer in the dimness of the Verdant Expanse, and when they lashed out with previously hidden tentacle appendages. Telthanas suddenly knew what they were up against: displacer beasts. Judging from closing sounds of the horns, their pursuers were likely using the creatures as "hounds" to track their prey.
The adventurers were suddenly fighting for their lives ... while Tanevir and Hawkwind ignored all in favor of chasing the Great Stag.
And then they caught finally caught it.
Suddenly, the fight against the displacer beasts was over as the lagging heroes were teleported to the a peaceful clearing lit with the soft afterglow of a fading summer day.
The strong, proud mental voice of the Great Stag sounded in their minds. "You have succeeded where many of failed ... and earned a great boon. Know that the inhabitants of this land fear and hate its new ruler, and that these gifts are uniquely suited to defeating it."
With that, the hereos gained the following boons:
- Fargrim: Gained enhanced Constitution (+2)
- Burgel: gained insight into the Green Blight's weaknesses (granting his weapon the temporary equivalence of a sword of dragon slaying) as well as the unerring ability find the Viridescent Keep
- Tanevir: Gained additional intelligence (+2)
- Hawkwind: Great speed (+5' movement)
- Telthanas: Gained +1 AC and saving throws
- Finn: Gained the ability to hear animals and to summon an animal companion 1x per day
- Hank Ironvow: Gained enhanced Strength (+2)
- Shump Bloodoath: Gained enhanced Constitution (+2)
Experience
Player Characters
- Burgell: 1690 xp
- Tänévir: 1690 xp
- Finn: 1690 xp
- Fargrim: 1690 xp
- Hawkwind: 1690 xp
Non-player Characters
- Talthanas: 845 xp
- Hank Ironvow: 845 xp
- Shump Bloodoath: 845 xp
Treasure
Coins
- 150 Gold
Art objects
- None
Magic items
- a Potion of Greater Restoration
- a Potion of Greater Healing.
