Campaign Journal #10- The Battle of Bowerstone

…as the party stepped out of the Church and into the street it was obvious that combat was imminent. A group of a dozen half orcs armed with longswords and shields were quickly approaching, looks of anger and revenge flashed on their piggish faces. The party surveyed the area and also saw two more figures, an archer on an adjacent rooftop and the elven female spellcaster who was part of the ambush on the party several nights prior. Everyone leapt into action, thirsty for blood and fighting for survival!

Henri lobbed a fireball at half the approaching group, burning the lot of them but they remained on their feet. Romulus and Glee paired up and tried to take out the other mob, working together with their team flanking tactics and cutting through flesh as if it was paper. Mgabwe started to buff up before heading into melee and was struck by a cluster of arrows from an unseen assailant, he spied a ninja on the roof of the Church for a moment before the figure vanished. Finally becoming comfortable in her support role, Lela went about buffing up the party with haste, bardic music, and healing when they needed it. I was surprised to see the initial onslaught of the party focus on the rank and file goons that were approaching them, rather than on the clearly more dangerous trio that was beginning to do some serious damage. A ray of enfeeblement from Mgabwe left the archer too weak to pull his composite bow, but the mysterious ninja moved around the battlefield invisibly and caused some grievous wounds with sudden striking nunchakus.

Blood may be thicker than water, but magic trumps them all as Romulus tossed aside his friendship with Glee and fell prey to a confusion spell from the caster. A series of unfortunate rolls on the confusion chart left Romulus repeatedly attacking Glee, bringing him to death’s door. Mgabwe was also in bad shape from the ninja attacks. Things were not looking too good for the PC’s. Lela was invisible and able to avoid damage and several times she bailed out one of them with some healing, at one point bringing Glee back from the land of negative hit points.

With the goons finally defeated by the combined work of the entire party they turned their attention to the remaining powerhouses; the archer was firing again thanks to a dispel magic, the caster was trying some tricks on Mgabwe but nothing seemed to work, and the ninja continued to annoy with stick and move tactics. Lightning bolts from Henri were able to take down the caster, thus freeing Romulus from the confusing haze in his brain; the two of them now working on ranged tactics to remove the archer from the combat. The ninja was proving to be a pain. Thanks to see invisibility Mgabwe was able to locate the ninja, though it did not seem to help too much at first. With a heroic flying charge the near naked necromancer dove at the ninja, only to roll the dreaded one on his attack. Poor guy, this seems to happen to him quite a bit. The ninja was running out of invisibility and chose to stand and fight for a round, which was not in his best interest. After some melee attacks from Mgabwe and Glee he was ultimately dropped by a magic missile from Henri. Defeated by a 1st level spell, the ultimate in humiliation.

This was the toughest battle that they have had to date and I was a bit surprised that they all made it out alive, but they fought well. It takes a while for team tactics to develop and I think that they are finally starting to figure it all out. Lela in particular was excellent in the fight in her role as a support character, if not for her I think they would have been lucky to make it out alive at all. Both Lela and Henri turn invisible for most combats, so that really makes the other three big targets. Mgabwe has a great AC (thanks to the lunacy that is the abjurant champion), Glee has the Ring of Blink, but poor Romulus is usally the target of most enemy attacks. They need to work on some of that stuff, but I think they are doing pretty well. They just need a name.

With the corpses of the defeated littering the streets of Bowerstone, the party made a point of looting quickly and grabbing anything of value. True adventurers, they be. As they were doing so a patrol of guards led by Captain Miles approached, demanding to know how the party was once again mixed up in bloody street warfare. He scolded them for fighting outdoors and implored them to keep the melee inside from now on. Miles seemed very unconcerned with the argument that the party was once again attacked by the mysterious Association and instead issued the party a ticket for 7500gp for fighting in a public space.

Now really done with Bowerstone the party once again headed to the mountains in search of fortune and glory! They rested up in the woods and identified the considerable haul of loot from the Association, as well as healed some wounds and made some plans. Ultimately they would like to wind up in Ocrist, but it will take one more level before Henri can teleport the entire party to the city that none of them have every been to. The party equipped with new gear they set off the following morning and found the mountain terrain to be strangely empty, not a single medusa ambush waiting for them. Looking for a high point in the mountains to see the area better they climbed upward. They had purchased some fancy mountaineering gear from Up In Arms and were eager to use it. Romulus was appointed as the lead climber and did an excellent job of traversing the rough terrain, eventually arriving at a plateau from which the temple was visible. It was closer than ever before! They could practically see the gold overflowing from it! Some more exploration brought them into the lair of some winter wolves, which were quickly dispatched with a fireball from Henri. Making camp for the evening, the party prepared for another day of mountain climbing.

I thought that it was a very good night of adventuring, it seemed like everyone had a good time. Everyone likes plot and roleplaying and adventure, but nothing really beats treasure and fighting. Who doesn’t like that? I’m curious to see how the next couple of adventures play out, I have some things planned. I also have to deal with a development that messes with many a DM, teleportation. Once Henri hits 12th level he will be able to move the entire party virtually anywhere in a moment. That is going to keep me on my toes.