Session 41 - A Potent Brew
11th September 2022
In-game timeline: DR1489 Eleint 26 - Eleint 26
Our "Heroes" consider their options, taking in to account the rescued, slaves, the pirates, the supposed loot at the abbey, the harpies and the missing child, plus the time pressure to reach the beach when the ship returns to collect them.
They decide to ask Tamara to create a strong sleeping draught and then, on the way back to the large rock, discuss how to best administer it without making it obvious to the pirates. They eventually settle upon using Kandi's antbrew ale, some of which will be poisoned and some not, with some form of disturbance as a distraction.
They tie up the slaves, in pretence that they are bringing them back in order to re-sell them later in true "pirate" fashion. They reach the large rock and no one is there, so they continue on towards the wood and greet Blue and his pirates. Blue is surprised to see the trail of slaves behind them but the group persuades him that they could be worth some money.
Using a combination of persuasion and distraction, the group manage to get the pirates to drink the poisoned ale, although since nobody told Ruhin about the plan, she is a little surprised when the other pirates (excluding herself and Harile, who was not drinking) started feeling drowsy. Grayson falls asleep, which leads to suspicion in Blue, who realises something is going on and draws his sword.
A battle ensues, but it is short, as the pirates are feeling drowsy. Ruhin is REALLY confused now, and is unsure what side to battle for. Harile feels obliged to fight for the pirates, and is not feeling drowsy, so has an impressive attack on Carro. The elf responds by trying to grapple her to the ground and explain they are on her side. Unfortunately no one has explained to Harile that the party are not actually on the side of the pirates at all, so this only confuses Harile further. However, she is not stupid and quickly works out that this is a fight the pirates are unlikely to win, and she surrenders.
Forane and Blue continue to fight, whilst Ruhin is only pretending to fight Mahtis. Eventually Blue falls to the ground, unconscious - partly from the battering he has taken from TC and partly from the effects of the ale. Mahtis manages to grapple Forane to the ground and tie her up.
As the poisoned ale continues to work its effects, and the group finally explain the plan, after the event, to Ruhin and to Harile, the three remaining pirates are fast asleep (or unconscious) and so are tied up and secured. Kandi is dissuaded from murdering the sleeping pirates in cold blood.
Ruhin, Harile and the slaves are tasked with guarding the three pirates while the rest of the party decide to head to the abbey for a chance of getting some loot, and maybe finding out what happened to Candice, before coming back to the large rock in time to make it across the desert to meet the ship the following morning. They turn down Ruhin's offer to come with them to help.
They eventually arrive at the abbey ruins. There is initially no sign of movement, so the group carefully approach, using Pass Without Trace to improve their stealth. They make their way towards some trees and bushes that gives good cover, and look more closely at the abbey buildings. Many are in some state of disrepair, some more than others, and many appear to have been burnt, to some degree. They notice a tall tower at the northern end of the abbey complex and think that this is where they spotted at least one harpy flew to the day before.
While they are looking around, Carro spots a person emerge from one of the buildings. They hide behind another building and observe, spotting another person emerge from the same building. They head to the cultivated area where they go out of sight of the party, who remain hidden behind one of the temples. Much discussion about how and where to approach first ensues.
They decide to try to get to the doorway of the building that are currently close to without being seen. They fail. TC's usual clanking around does get the attention of the two people in the fields. The party manage to get some ranged attacks off quickly before the two men know what is going on. Luckily for the party, the men don't seem to have any ranged weapons, so they get peppered with arrows and blasts as they try to run for cover whilst still closing in on the party.
As the two enemies start to get closer, under cover, another person emerges from the door that the previous two came from. Mahtis was ready for this and tries to get them with a frostbite, but misses. While Kandi, TC and Carro all focus their efforts on taking down the two original guys, now in close combat with TC, Mahtis is on her own against the third person, who seems to be trying to make for the door in the temple opposite the one he came out of.
At this point TC realises that he has engaged in close combat with some very well-trained fighters as they hack and slash at him with their longswords and shortswords. TC responds by killing one of them, though it did take the use of a lucky die and the bardic inspiration given to him by Kandi. Mahtis manages to surround the running enemy in Spike Growth, which he has to plough through to get to the other temple, but takes a lot of damage (21 points!) from the spikes as he does so.
Meanwhile the other three are focussing on Ernie, the last standing fighter to the south. Kandi tries to shoot him with a crossbow bolt, but badly misses and hits an injured TC instead! Carro does manage to get on target, but Ernie still stands. Luckily for an almost-down TC, the enemy misses on all his attacks and TC responds with a divine smite attack and just manages to take Ernie down.
With Bert and Ernie both killed, the third fighter manages to reach the other temple and disappears inside.
And so we leave our "Heroes". TC is damaged, but heals up a bit with his lay on hands pool, and a bit more with a Cure Wounds spell from Kandi and a healing potion from Carro. They don't have any more time to do anything else, as they know that people are now alerted to their presence…